Carsten Schneider (SPD) took over the office of Federal Minister for the Environment from his predecessor Steffi Lemke (Greens) on 7 May.
 

An organisational regulation issued by the Chancellor also changes the structure and name of the ministry. This was announced by the ministry, which is now called the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Protection, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN). According to the decree, the BMUKN will be responsible for national and international climate protection, which had been anchored in the Federal Ministry of Economics and the Federal Foreign Office since 2021. According to the ministry, responsibility for consumer protection will be transferred to the Federal Ministry of Justice in future.
 
The new Federal Environment Minister, Carsten Schneider (49), comes from Thuringia and began his political career in 1998 as the youngest member of the German Bundestag. From 2005 to 2013, the trained banker was budget policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, then deputy parliamentary group leader until 2017. He then took over as First Parliamentary State Secretary of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag and, from 2021, was Minister of State to the Federal Chancellor and Federal Government Commissioner for the New Federal States in the traffic light coalition. Together with Schneider, Parliamentary State Secretary Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter (SPD) and Parliamentary State Secretary Carsten Träger (SPD) will take over their offices in the BMUKN. Jochen Flasbarth (SPD) is also returning to the Environment Ministry as State Secretary, reports Euwid. The 63-year-old is moving back to the Environment Ministry in the new legislative period from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, where he was State Secretary from 2013 to 2021.
 
Schneider said: ‘Only a healthy natural environment can help us to effectively protect the climate and ourselves as human beings. It is therefore right and appropriate that national and international climate protection and nature and environmental protection are being brought back together under the Ministry of the Environment.’ According to Schneider, the most important levers for environmental protection include reducing primary raw material consumption and establishing an efficient circular economy. In order to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in Germany, the ministry will exploit the potential of renewable energies and promote innovative technologies. Ambitious marine protection and the continuation of the natural climate programme to strengthen ecosystems in forests, moors and waters are also central components of these efforts.
 
Sources:

• Press release BMUKN, euwid-recycling.de (7.5.2025)
• Photo: © BMUKN / Sascha Hilgers