On a global scale, Germany‘s intentions are ambitious. The country aims to become a climate-neutral industrial nation by 2045. This places Germany among the international pioneers in the fight against the climate crisis. The path to climate neutrality is the “greatest modernization and prosperity safeguarding project since World War II“, according to Dirk Messner, the President of the German Environment Agency. The phase-out of coal by 2038, fifteen million electric cars on the roads by 2030, and a massive expansion of renewable energies were enshrined in law. However, the status quo is as complex as it is paradoxical. While activist groups continue to push the boundaries of climate protest, the expansion of renewable energies is faltering. Despite surveys indicating broad social support for climate protection, public backing is clearly waning when it comes to practical measures. Recently, dependence on Russian gas, the resulting energy crisis, economic hardships, and inflation exacerbated the social climate. This work is a journey through a country divided on climate issues, addressing the struggle for guiding narratives and the question of whether it is possible to find sustainable answers to the climate crisis in a consumer-driven society. The objective of this photo essay is to portray a society that stands at a social and ecological crossroads and thereby tells stories from a nation whose prosperity is rooted in the combustion of fossil fuels, on the intricate transition toward climate neutrality.

Photo copyright: © Ingmar Björn Nolting