The Green Party and Germany’s Environment: Integration, Influence, and Comparisons

Abstract

The German Greens are helping Germany continue its legacy of being eco-friendly. This paper covers the history of the German Green Party. It will evaluate the success of the party and the reasons for its success. In addition, it will compare the German Greens to the United States Green Party in terms of their vote wins in elections and impact on their respective countries’ environments. The German Greens are known to be highly successful, forming coalitions with several big-name German parties. The party won 20.5% of votes in the 2019 European Election. In comparison, the US Green Party is not as well known. It was found that the German Green Party won a steadily increasing number of votes in every election, while the US Green Party had an overall decrease in the number of votes won every election. In addition, Germany has decreased its carbon dioxide emissions since 1971, while the US yearly carbon emission totals have increased. Because the Green Parties from the two countries have very similar policies, the reasons for their gap in success will be explored. In doing this, the conditions and actions required to form a highly dynamic political party will be indicated. Given the imminent problem of environmental degradation, this research endeavor would help countries and political parties understand how to properly care for the planet. It will also examine the direct impact of the strength of a political party on its country’s culture.