German climate activists stage nationwide protests

Climate activists from Fridays for Future demonstrated in more than 70 cities across Germany on Friday, demanding that Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government meet its international climate finance pledges and accelerate the phase-out of fossil fuels.

The protests, held under the slogan “Pay your climate debt,” also targeted Merz’s absence from the COP31 summit in Antalya. Activists accused the government of delivering only incomplete funding for climate measures abroad while investing heavily in new gas-fired power plants at home.

“It is highly shameful that Chancellor Friedrich Merz cannot even show up at the world climate conference,” said Paula Kanzleiter of Fridays for Future. “As a wealthy country, Germany is called upon to finally pay the urgently needed money to the states that are already suffering most from the climate crisis. Every euro flowing into fossil gas plants in Germany would be better spent in those countries.”

On climate finance, the group noted that Germany provided €4.7 billion ($5.2 billion) in 2025 instead of the pledged €6 billion ($6.6 billion). Speakers stressed Germany’s historical responsibility as an industrialized nation.

Nele Evers of Fridays for Future added that the climate crisis had become more tangible than ever this year. “In the summer, all of us in Germany felt the heat ourselves, and 16,000 people lost their lives. The Earth is currently heading toward 2.8 degrees of warming, and every additional ton of coal, oil and gas fuels this crisis further. That has to stop.”