Fridays for Future and climate policymaking in German cities

The Greta Thunberg-inspired Fridays for Future (FfF) movement spread throughout the world during 2019, with millions of young people getting involved in school strikes and protests to raise awareness of climate change. Although much of this activity was put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic, the movement contributed towards hundreds of regional and local governments declaring a ‘climate emergency’ in 2019 and 2020, particularly in Germany and Italy (Ruiz-Campillo et al 2021). Given the conditions in which they arose, there is a risk that such declarations may be largely performative or symbolic and not result in substantive policy change (Newig 2007). However, drawing on municipal policy documents and interviews with FfF activists, government officials and elected representatives in fifteen German municipalities, we show how the movement has become highly integrated into decision-making in various cities and is having a significant impact on policy. Pressure from FFF has led to municipalities adopting more stringent greenhouse gas reduction targets, employing more staff to try and achieve these targets, and – even in places that have not declared a climate emergency – the development of more ambitious sustainability and climate strategies.