Climate change has become less important to young people in Germany than it was a few years ago, according to a survey.
In 2025, only around four in 10 young people said the issue was very important to them, compared with around six in 10 in 2021, according to a survey carried out by the Sinus Institute for the health insurer Barmer.
The share of respondents who said climate change was unimportant rose from 9% in 2021 to 17% in 2025.
For the study, 2,000 young people aged 14 to 17 were surveyed online across Germany between October 16 and November 20.
Strong fear of climate change has also become less common among young people. In 2025, just under a third of respondents, or 31%, said they were personally very afraid of climate change, down from 39% in 2021.
The proportion who said they were not afraid rose from 14% to 22%, while almost half, or 47%, described having mixed feelings, unchanged from 2021.
Even if the issue appears to be losing importance among young people, the situation has not eased in any way.
On the contrary, climate change is becoming increasingly visible in Europe. The continent has been warming twice as fast as the world as a whole since the 1980s, World Meteorological Organisation chief Celeste Saulo said while presenting a report on the state of the climate.
Europe experienced a massive decline in snow and ice cover in 2025, as well as droughts, heatwaves, wildfires and marine warming, much of it at record levels. – dpa
