“Subsequent delivery” project: People talk about the climate when there is a fire

“We all made history together today,” said the then Chancellor Angela Merkel in December 2015 after she signed the Paris Climate Agreement for Germany. At that time, almost all countries in the world committed to radically reducing their greenhouse gas emissions in order to significantly limit global warming. Billions of people have been waiting for this moment for a long time, said Merkel. Germany played a “decisive role” in shaping the agreement.

One could expect that the topic of climate will also have a significant impact on the Federal Government’s communication from this point on. However, a look at government press conferences shows the opposite.

For our “Subsequent delivery” project We have collected, indexed and made searchable all the transcripts of government press conferences from the last twelve years. The dataset includes more than 1,700 logs containing more than eleven million words. The data shows how political debates arise and at what point in time which topics dominate the Federal Government’s communication.

Pressure from the street

After Angela Merkel’s hopeful speech at the Paris climate conference in December 2015, the topic actually did not gain importance in the government press conferences that followed. On the contrary: the word “climate” is used much less frequently in the following year. In 2018, the curve showing how often the term is mentioned in government press conferences even dropped significantly.

The topic of climate will only experience a noticeable increase from 2019. This year, the Fridays for Future protests will become a global movement. Following the example of the student Greta Thunberg, who sat down with a sign in front of the Swedish Parliament every Friday from August 2018, hundreds of thousands of people all over the world take to the streets every Friday and demonstrate for a fairer climate policy.

With the protests, pressure on the federal government is growing. In 2019, the word “climate” was mentioned in more than 70 percent of all government press conferences. This is more than twice as common as in the years immediately after the Paris climate agreement. The protests are making the climate a permanent political issue in Germany.

The federal government seems to be reacting to this. In March 2019, the Merkel government set up a climate cabinet consisting of the Chancellor and several ministers. In a few months, the committee will develop a climate package. The scientific association Scientists for Future However, describes the measures in the climate package as “absolutely inadequate”. The plans “do not do justice to the urgency of the climate crisis or the desired reduction targets”.

First Corona, then the traffic lights

In 2020, however, the curve of climate mentions flattened significantly. The corona pandemic began at the beginning of the year and determined everyday political life. Contact bans and lockdowns are changing public life. Protests such as those organized by Fridays for Future are also prohibited. This also means that the visibility of the issue on the street disappears. The uncertainty of the pandemic is pushing the climate debate out of government press conferences.

Surprisingly, however, the term “climate” will peak in 2023. He is mentioned in more than 80 percent of government press conferences. However, this increase is not due to the fact that the government – at this point the traffic light coalition made up of the SPD, FDP and Greens – is pursuing an extensive climate policy. Instead, conflicts within the coalition dominate the debate. Above all, the dispute over the Climate Protection Act and the Heating Act is shaping government press conferences at this time – which is why the term climate is used so often.

From climate change to climate crisis

The data shows not only when people talk about the climate, but also how. During the traffic light government, the term “climate crisis” appears much more frequently. This is primarily due to the Foreign Office under Green Party Minister Annalena Baerbock. You and your speakers almost always use the word “climate crisis” instead of “climate change”. An example of this is a report on a trip by the Foreign Minister to New Zealand:

The term “climate crisis”, in contrast to “climate change”, is intended to make it clear that it is not an abstract change, but an acute threat. International media, such as the British newspaper The Guardian, have adapted their language regulations for this reason. The German Climate Journalism Network also speaks exclusively about the climate crisis.

Less climate under Merz

After the federal election at the beginning of 2025 and the inauguration of the government under Friedrich Merz, the term “climate” is once again used significantly less frequently in government press conferences. Climate is now mentioned even less often than before 2019 and the start of the Fridays For Future protests.

There is still talk about climate goals. But the Merz government remains vague about its specific plans. Instead, terms such as “technological openness” dominate. This is often the answer to the question of how the federal government wants to achieve its goal of being climate neutral by 2045.

Economics Minister Katherina Reiche goes one step further. In March 2026, according to media reports, Reiche told hundreds of managers from the world’s most important oil and gas companies in the Texas city of Houston that she was calling for more flexibility in European climate goals. At the government press conference that followed, spokespersons for the Ministry of Economic Affairs evaded questions about this. That’s why we asked the authorities again in writing.

→Click here for the data set

This project is funded by the Media Forward Fund.