Over one in five companies in Germany (21 percent) is already being affected by the negative consequences of climate change, according to a special analysis of the KfW Climate Barometer 2025. This affects an estimated 800,000 businesses overall.
Large corporations, specifically those with an annual turnover exceeding 500 million euros, are particularly impacted by the diverse effects of global warming: 74 percent of these companies report being at least partially affected by negative consequences. Among larger small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with more than 50 employees-but with revenues under 500 million euros-this figure stands at 42 percent. However, the smallest businesses, those employing fewer than five people, report feeling the negative impacts of climate change only in 19 percent of cases.
Dirk Schumacher, Chief Economist at KfW, explained that large corporations are often internationally connected, maintaining global supply chains and markets. This connectivity means that these larger companies are frequently directly impacted, even by extreme weather events taking place far from Germany.
The level of reported impact has actually risen recently within the largest corporations. In the 2024 KfW Climate Barometer, only 61 percent of these large companies indicated feeling at least partial effects of climate change, an increase of 13 percentage points from the previous year.
Energy-intensive companies are also noted as being particularly vulnerable to the negative ramifications of climate change. Businesses where energy accounts for ten percent or more of total costs are feeling the consequences; 31 percent of these report being at least partially affected-which is five percentage points more than in the previous year’s survey.
