Environmental Action Germany
Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V. is a non-profit environmental and consumer protection association, supported by public and private project grants and donations. It is a member of the European Environmental Bureau, in Brussels. It has the legal right to represent group claims in court against projects that it considers a threat to the environment. The group also aims to provide a forum for dialogue between environmental organizations, politicians and business people. The organisation, which is recognised as a non-profit organisation, is a consumer protection association with legal standing under the Injunction Act. It has the right to bring Verbandsklagen under the Environmental Appeals Act and is entitled to bring Musterfeststellungsklagen or Abhilfeklagen. The DUH is registered in the Lobby Register in accordance with the Lobby Register Act. The association has offices in Berlin, Radolfzell and Hanover, as well as project offices in Köthen and Erfurt.
History
The association was founded on 5 August 1975 simultaneously with the BUND regional association in Baden-Württemberg by Hermut Ruland, Gerhard Thielcke and Rudolf L. Schreiber. The original purpose of the association was to generate donations for the BUND, which, unlike other environmental associations, could also include funds from the private sector. In the first 13 years of its existence, the DUH focused on financing nature conservation projects and environmental education. At that time, its office was located in Öhningen. Initiated by DUH, the BUND and the NABU, the European Nature Heritage Foundation was founded in 1987, the first European Environment Year, to support nature conservation projects throughout Europe. In 1988, the DUH moved into new offices in Radolfzell. At this time, the DUH expanded its environmental education activities, produced and distributed information brochures on nature conservation and environmental protection topics, carried out door-to-door and street collections to support several hundred mainly local nature conservation and environmental protection projects each year, launched the Jugend erlebt Natur campaign and thus developed into an independent association. In 1990, the DUH announced its first nationwide competition for municipal environmental protection. The first recipient of the award Bundeshauptstadt für Natur- und Umweltschutz was the city of Erlangen. The DUH's international Lake Constance environmental protection project led to the establishment of the Bodensee-Stiftung für Natur und Kultur in 1994. Its main focus was on promoting sustainable management, for example in the form of environmentally friendly tourism, biotope protection, resource-saving transport, organic farming and the protection of Lake Constance as a drinking water reservoir. In 1998, with the participation of the DUH, the international environmental foundation Global Nature Fund was established, which is an international foundation dedicated to the preservation of water ecosystems. The GNF's largest project is the Living Lakes network, which has over 112 partners worldwide and around 60 lakes in 2021.In 2004, the Federal Administrative Court recognised the DUH as a consumer protection association with the right to take legal action. In 2008, the Federal Environment Agency recognised the association as an association with the right to take legal action under the Environmental Appeals Act.
In 2023, the DUH and the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz won a case against the German government before the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court. The subject of the proceedings was the lack of immediate programmes that would have been necessary in the areas of transport and buildings in accordance with the Climate Protection Act.
Organisation and administration
Administration
The DUH is a registered non-profit association under German association law. In April 2025, it had 535 voting members and approximately 20,000 supporting members.The association is divided into three regional associations. Their function is to pursue the goals and tasks of the DUH at the local and regional levels. The Executive Board sets the goals for their practical work and advises and supervises the work of the management. The federal chairmen of the Executive Board were Hermut Ruland from 1975 to 1988 and Gerhard Thielcke from 1988 to 2001. From 2001 until his death in early 2024, Harald Kächele held this office.
The delegates' meeting decides on the budget, approves the annual financial statements, and discharges and elects the Executive Board and the cash auditors.
The management is responsible for the operational business of the DUH. It is authorised to handle the economic, administrative and personnel matters of the federal office.The federal managing directors are Jürgen Resch, Sascha Müller-Kraenner and, since 2022, Barbara Metz. Ulrike Voß and Matthias Walter have also been members of the federal management since 2022. Former managing directors were: Michael Spielmann, Rainer Baake and Jörg Dürr-Pucher, Jürgen Rosemund and Hans-Jürgen Dippel. As of the end of 2024, the main project work was carried out by 197 employees and 29 student assistants at four locations.
Memberships and partnerships
The DUH is a member of the alliance Atomausstieg selber machen and, from 1998 until 2022, a partner in the Hand-in-Hand-Fonds with Rapunzel Naturkost GmbH to promote social and ecological projects worldwide. The DUH also runs the Handys für die Umwelt initiative. It also coordinates door-to-door and street collections for the purpose of nature conservation and environmental protection. The alliance Kommunen für biologische Vielfalt was largely founded by the DUH and is supported by it in establishing its own independent association. The DUH initiated the Lebendige Flüsse campaign in 1995. The association is also represented in the Mehrweg-Allianz and founded the Wild Cities project. The association coordinates the work of several networks and initiatives internationally. For example, it is responsible for the Rußfrei fürs Klima campaign.Topics
Nature conservation and biodiversity
In its work on nature conservation and biodiversity, Deutsche Umwelthilfe focuses on four areas: Biological Diversity, Living Forests, Watercourse Protection and Marine Protection. Together with other associations, the DUH has been implementing measures to save endangered species and reconnect ecosystems since 1997 as part of the Living Rivers network. In a pilot project launched in 2014 on the Szczecin Lagoon, the DUH combined species protection with a support programme for structurally weak regions.With the Living Elbe network, which the DUH runs together with the organisations NABU, BUND and WWF, it also pursues the goal of making the entire Elbe catchment area from the Czech Republic to the North Sea a World Natural and Cultural Heritage Site. Cross-border nature and species conservation programmes and projects such as the German-Czech youth exchange Die Sprachen des Flusses contribute to European understanding. Between 2002 and 2005, the DUH initiated the International Elbe Bathing Day. The Living Forests project has been running since 2008, in which the association is committed to the preservation and restoration of intact and near-natural forests through model projects. In 2014, the association succeeded in getting UNESCO to recognise the Okavango Delta in Botswana, Africa, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Between 2012 and 2014, the DUH also worked with the Flussbüro Erfurt to rebuild bridges so that otters can pass underneath them safely. Until December 2013, the DUH also coordinated the work of OCEAN2012 in Germany. This Europe-wide alliance campaigned against overfishing in European seas and for a sustainable Common Fisheries Policy for the European Union.
Energy and climate protection
To promote a nature-friendly and socially just energy transition, the association coordinates specialist networks on the topics of energy transition, grid integration, heating, energy storage and bioenergy. It also holds information events in affected communities to promote greater acceptance of the energy transition through dialogue with residents and project developers.Since 2008, Deutsche Umwelthilfe has organised and moderated the Forum Netzintegration Erneuerbare Energien. The project, which was funded by the Federal Ministry for the Environment until 2014, brought together politicians and grid operators, conservationists and energy experts, scientists and citizens' initiatives to jointly develop measures for the successful conversion of the electricity grid. The first result was Plan N in 2010, a jointly developed policy paper with measures for the conversion and expansion of the electricity grids. At the end of 2013, the Forum Netzintegration Erneuerbare Energien published the follow-up paper, Plan N 2.0. The paper shows how the new infrastructure for a low-risk and sustainable energy supply can be designed in a way that is compatible with nature and society, thereby strengthening its regional acceptance. Almost 60 institutions, companies, organisations and associations involved in the discussion process signed Plan N 2.0, which was presented to politicians at a parliamentary evening in Berlin in January 2014. Another focus is the efficiency of buildings. By monitoring the market for the energy performance certificate, which has been mandatory in Germany since 1 May 2014, and taking legal action in the event of violations, the DUH aims to raise awareness of the environmental impact and financial costs of heating and provide information on the advantages of building renovation. According to the DUH, the energy-efficient renovation of buildings can be done socially acceptable.
The DUH criticised the study Kostentreiber für den Wohnungsbau by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für zeitgemäßes Bauen, which claimed that energy efficiency jeopardises social housing; rather, the study's conclusions ignore the long-term savings in energy costs. Together with other environmental associations, the DUH supported a successful lawsuit brought by several children before the Federal Constitutional Court. In a ruling dated 24 March 2021, the inadequate legal regulations on climate protection were recognised as a violation of the complainants' fundamental rights, and parts of the Federal Climate Protection Act were declared unconstitutional. Since then, the DUH has filed further climate lawsuits against the federal government, state governments and companies.