Coalition agreement 2025 and NKWS: Booster for environmental and planning law?

In the current coalition agreement, environmental and planning law is mentioned at various points throughout the coalition agreement, highlighting its great importance. However, the agreement also includes a clear commitment to the National Circular Economy Strategy (NKWS), which aims to drive forward the transformation to a sustainable circular economy model. In this legislative period and beyond, it will be crucial to expand and accelerate the necessary investments and projects in various areas – such as infrastructure – without losing sight of the objectives of the transformation to climate neutrality.

These are the current plans of the coalition partners with regard to environmental and planning law, which must now be put into practice promptly and pragmatically:

Changes to project approval

The CDU/CSU and SPD want to simplify the approval of installations in the immission control approval procedure as a whole. The coalition parties are planning to reduce bureaucracy in environmental approval law. In the area of immission control, the declared aim is to increase the potential for acceleration without jeopardizing the protection goals of the Federal Immission Control Act (BImSchG).

In order to resolve conflicts of use between residential, commercial and agricultural areas, the TA-Lärm and TA-Luft are to be further developed. In the area of agricultural animal husbandry, the Federal Immission Control Act (BImSchG) is to be redesigned in a practical manner. Approval hurdles for the construction of stables are to be abolished. Newly built and converted animal welfare stables are to be protected for at least 20 years. In addition, the change of animal species within existing stables is to be made easier.

The future government also intends to make use of the leeway permitted under EU law in the area of environmental impact assessments (EIA) and to simplify these, for example by raising the thresholds for projects requiring an EIA. In addition, it is to be examined whether a preliminary EIA assessment can be waived for change approvals.

The coalition wants to facilitate the designation of compensation and replacement measures and the networking of compensation measures (biotope network) in a Nature Area Requirements Act.

The population approach is to be applied nationwide for species and nature conservation. This would allow projects to be permitted even if the project affects individual individuals of a species.

Planning and approval process to be accelerated

The future government would like to push ahead with important infrastructure projects in particular. It has therefore agreed on measures to accelerate planning and approval. The coalition intends to launch a European initiative to accelerate planning and approval and to continue the national pact for accelerating planning, approval and implementation of the previous federal government and the federal states. Together with the federal states, planning and approval procedures are to be fully digitalized.
The future government is aiming to make significant changes to specialist planning law. Among other things, it wants to introduce a uniform procedural law for infrastructure projects (“one for many”). Procedural stages are to be reduced and duplicate reviews eliminated. Similarly, there should no longer be multiple rounds of participation by public interest groups and the public. Discussion meetings are to become optional.

The coalition partners would also like to introduce a binding cut-off date regulation at the earliest possible point in the planning process. Procedures would then be completed with the law with which they were started, without taking into account changes in the law. A further simplification concerns identical and extended replacement construction as well as the construction of a replacement structure parallel to the existing structure: these are to be exempted from the obligation of a planning approval procedure. Planning approval is to replace the planning approval procedure as the standard procedure. In particular, this would significantly streamline public participation, as only those affected by the planning would have to be involved.
For major infrastructure projects, early commencement of measures is to be permitted during the ongoing planning procedure. With a Federal Armed Forces Infrastructure Acceleration Act, the future government wants to create exemptions under construction and environmental law for construction projects in the area of defense-related infrastructure.

Sustainable circular economy to be strengthened

The future German government has set itself the goal of reducing the consumption of primary raw materials as much as possible and making better use of domestic and European resources. This requires a further strengthening of a sustainable circular economy.

The National Circular Economy Strategy (NKWS) drawn up by the traffic light coalition is to be retained and implemented in a “pragmatic” manner. In order to close material cycles, the coalition agreement provides for a digitalization initiative.

The future German government wants to reform Section 21 of the Packaging Act. According to this, systems are obliged to use participation fees to create incentives to ensure that sustainable materials, recyclates and renewable raw materials are used as much as possible in the production of packaging subject to system participation. The EU Packaging Regulation is to be implemented in a practicable manner.

Beyond the area of packaging law, the overall intention is to strengthen strategies for waste prevention, the use of recyclates and the establishment of a shared economy. The new German government wants to facilitate sustainable consumption in line with the principle of “repairing instead of throwing away”. To this end, existing regulations on the collection of used batteries and electrical appliances are to be optimized.

Specifically with regard to the chemical industry, the coalition agreement envisages supporting the chemical recycling of plastics and incorporating this into the existing waste hierarchy, although no statements are made as to where chemical recycling should be anchored in the waste hierarchy.
For the construction sector, the long-planned introduction of an end-of-waste regulation in the Substitute Building Materials Ordinance has been announced. The coalition also wants to enable the necessary facilities for the increased use of recycled building materials. Action plans are to be drawn up for bio-based and energy-intensive building materials.

A key issues paper is to be drawn up on the basis of the National Circular Economy Strategy to implement these points and other measures that can be implemented in the short term.

Other environmental issues in the coalition agreement

In addition to the aforementioned points, the coalition agreement contains a number of statements on other environmental issues. For example, theIndustrial Emissions Directive (IED) and the EU Air Quality Directive, which have now come into force, are to be transposed 1:1 and as leanly as possible into national law. In the area of chemicals legislation, the new German government wants to advocate a balanced European regulatory framework with a risk-based approach, for example in the EU REACH Regulation. A total ban on entire chemical substance groups such as perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) is rejected in the coalition agreement. Research and development of alternative substances is to be stepped up. Where the use of equivalent alternatives is possible, PFAS are to be replaced in the near future.

In the area of marine protection, particular attention will be paid to the fight against pollution, the preservation of biodiversity and the removal of munitions waste in the North Sea and Baltic Sea. As an inland sea that is particularly affected by climate change, the future German government believes that the latter should be given special protection.
The mining and extraction of domestic raw materials should be facilitated in a pragmatic way that respects environmental and social standards.

The future government also wants to streamline the Environmental Information Act and reform the Freedom of Information Act with added value for citizens and the administration.

Companies need legal certainty quickly

The objectives of the coalition agreement and the national circular economy strategy should be implemented promptly and at pace so that the achievement of climate neutrality by 2045 is not jeopardized. Numerous legal adjustments in environmental and planning law are essential for this. Without this legal certainty, necessary investments cannot be made and urgently needed projects cannot be realized.
The following was also made clear at the NKWS conference of the Federal Ministry for the Environment on 11 April 2025 with over 200 participants:

• We need to think beyond the upcoming legislative period and take a European approach to the upcoming challenges of implementing the objectives of the coalition agreement and the national circular economy strategy with an international focus.
• We need rapid and pragmatic implementation.
• The implementation of a sustainable circular economy requires a link with all areas, including digitalization, involving the various stakeholders in the life cycle of products and primary and recycled raw materials, including logistics and transport.
• Implementation is the task of the entire federal government, the federal states and the entire economy.

The starting signal has been given, now the marathon should be run successfully as soon as possible.