Three quarters of Germany’s large companies impacted by climate change – survey
Clean Energy Wire
Three in four large German companies feel the negative impacts of climate change, according to a survey by state-owned development bank KfW. Among enterprises with annual sales exceeding 500 million euros, 74 percent said in the survey conducted last year that they were negatively affected by climate change, an increase of 13 percentage points over 2024.
Large enterprises are more exposed to extreme weather events in other parts of the world because of their global supply chains and sales markets, KfW chief economist Dirk Schumacher said.
As an export-oriented economy with many highly specialised companies, Germany is particularly vulnerable to supply chain disruptions. Like other European countries, it has also started to be heavily impacted by the effects of climate change, including deadly heat waves, floods and droughts.
Among all surveyed companies, 21 percent said they are already affected by rising temperatures – this share corresponds to a total of around 800,000 firms. Among companies with more than 50 employees but sales below 500 million euros, the share rose to 42 percent.
KfW said that energy-intensive businesses are especially vulnerable to the negative consequences of climate change. Among companies in which energy costs make up ten percent or more of total costs, 31 percent reported being affected in some form, an increase of five percentage points over the previous year.
The development bank said last year’s dry summer had put some energy-intensive sectors under pressure. “Low river levels meant that fewer goods and fuels reached their destinations, while thermal power plants and hydropower plants had their output curtailed. Industrial refrigeration processes also suffer from restrictions on cooling water use.”
The frequency and intensity of extreme weather is set to increase as climate change progresses. Poorer countries are likely to be most heavily affected, but even highly developed industrial countries face growing risks. KfW said ambitious climate policies are therefore also an important lever for securing future economic resilience.