Overview
- Katrin Eder, leader of the Green parliamentary group in Rhineland-Palatinate, has demanded a state Hitzeschutz-Sofortprogramm to finance measures that can be put in place quickly for vulnerable people.
- She says many towns and especially highly sealed large cities are not ready for intense heat despite steps such as drinking fountains and added shade.
- Eder criticized the new CDU-led state government for not renewing the earlier municipal investment programme, which previously allowed only up to 25 percent of funds to be used for climate adaptation.
- Her short-term proposals include extra public water points, shaded rest areas, openly accessible cool rooms and stronger heat-preparedness plans for schools, day cares and care homes to protect older people, children and the chronically ill.
- Eder also calls for a binding state climate-adaptation strategy that sets concrete implementation steps and prioritizes long-term urban changes such as more street trees, more green space, targeted de‑sealing and better rainwater infiltration; there is no documented response from the state government so far.