fridays for Future has lost popularity, to the inertia after the pandemic, to more radical climate protection groups – but also to parties. Some of those who spent many Fridays on the streets to demonstrate for a more ambitious climate policy are now working on Fridays not only on demands, but on implementing them. Also on the other days of the week, of course. Going through the committees, institutions and parliaments, in parties and in politics in general, takes time. It’s not just the Greens who benefit from this ecological rejuvenation. There are now even climate protectors in the Union who have tried to protest.
The assumption that activists in the climate movement only lead in the direction of left-of-center parties is no longer true. In the CDU, CSU and their joint youth organization there is now a whole range of young people who were or are still part of Fridays for Future. Their motivations are anything but uniform.