Auf Wiedersehen, Klimakanzlerin

As she leaves office, Angela Merkel, hailed for her pioneering global leadership on climate change, stands accused at home of not moving fast enough

- VANESSA DEZEM and WILLIAM WILKES

Angela Merkel’s slow-motion departure from the German political stage took an ironic turn in April as the chancellor tripped over a climate law she herself had drawn up. In a shock decision, judges on the country’s highest court ruled that Merkel’s faltering attempts to rewire the energy system away from fossil fuels would saddle future generations with the burden of cutting emissions. Merkel—once hailed as a climate leader, now denounced as a straggler—was ordered to speed things up.

Merkel’s cautious approach threatened the fundamental rights of young people “to a human future,” the judges said, ruling in favor of plaintiff Sophie Backsen, a 22-year-old farmer whose island home of Pellworm off Germany’s North Sea coast might disappear because of rising sea levels. Shaken by the decision, Merkel spent the following weekend in quiet contemplation while she pondered a response.

The court ruling goes straight to the heart of Merkel’s handling of the Energiewende, Germany’s multibillion-euro transition to a low-carbon future. Across her 16 years in power, Merkel the scientist—a true believer in fighting climate change—has been forced to give way to Merkel the politician. Even as she oversaw a boom in renewable energy and positioned her country as a world leader on the environment, she made substantial concessions to the coal lobby, to protesters against new wind farms, and to manufacturing, particularly carmakers.

While Merkel is lauded overseas, her stop-and-start approach has seen Germany’s city centers fill with weekly marches by school-age climate demonstrators. After unprecedented flooding hit parts of the country this summer, she inspected the devastation and witnessed the frustration among victims. “We stand by your side, and we will put everything in order, step by step,” she said.