As Germany endures another heatwave, calls have grown louder for more funding for heat protection and climate adaptation. According to the Robert Koch Institute, which reported on Thursday, nearly 10,000 people have already died from high temperatures this summer. The majority of those affected were over 75 years old. Patient advocates say the federal government and states must finally take responsibility.
"For many, heat is unpleasant. For people in need of care, it can be life-threatening," Left Party care policy spokesperson Evelyn Schötz told the news agency AFP. "The next heatwave is just around the corner, yet care homes in this country are not adequately prepared for it."
She noted that nationwide recommendations for heat protection plans in care facilities already exist and now need to be implemented. Schötz emphasized: "Protection for the most vulnerable must not depend on a care facility's budget."
The Left Party's parliamentary group in the Bundestag is calling for care homes to be made "heat-proof." The states, it says, must fund investments in shading, cooling and climate-resilient buildings, without creating any additional costs for residents.
"We need €30 billion, otherwise care home residents and hospital patients will continue to suffer," said Eugen Brysch, board chairman of the German Foundation for Patient Protection (Deutsche Stiftung Patientenschutz), in comments to AFP. "This is how existing buildings can be adapted to climatic conditions."
For new buildings, Brysch demanded that indoor temperatures must not exceed 25 degrees Celsius. "But this can only succeed if the protective measures are enshrined in building law in every federal state."
Former Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) is pushing for swift measures. "Now it's about saving what can still be saved," Lauterbach told the "Rheinische Post". "Thousands of lives are at stake."
The Bundestag member called for "the introduction of heat portals where people can find information about heat and countermeasures." He said what's also needed are water misting systems, cooling rooms and heat hotlines. The latter, he said, could be used to specifically check in with vulnerable people about whether they are drinking enough or have a medical problem.
Looking ahead to the coming years, Lauterbach said: "We will experience such heatwaves with great regularity, that's why we need to redesign our cities in the long term. Surfaces need to be unsealed and significantly greened."
Green Party leader Franziska Brantner accused the federal government of watching the heat deaths "idly." "This is no longer a marginal issue, but an acute danger to human life," she told the "Rheinische Post". Investment in climate adaptation must happen now, she said, including shading and drinking water fountains in cities as well as more green spaces and bodies of water.
To manage this, municipalities are pushing for more support from the federal government and the states. Climate adaptation is "existential for our future," said Christian Schuchardt, chief executive of the German Association of Cities (Deutscher Städtetag), in comments to the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland. "In the end, we're talking about billions of euros nationwide that need to be invested."
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