AfD leader Chrupalla calls climate change a "side issue"

Chrupalla in ARD Summer Interview: "Climate is a Side Issue"

Germany is experiencing an extreme summer with heat deaths and wildfires. Nevertheless, AfD leader Chrupalla criticizes what he calls "climate hype." "We simply need more electricity, then we can cool things down," he said in the ARD summer interview.

Parched fields, wildfires lasting for days, and an unusually high number of days with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius in many places — experts say this summer makes clear that the climate in Germany is changing. The Robert Koch Institute has reported more than 14,000 heat-related deaths since the beginning of the year. Farmers are warning of massive crop failures. Low water levels in Germany's rivers are placing strain on both the environment and the economy.

AfD leader Tino Chrupalla nevertheless speaks of "scaremongering" and "climate hype." "I have not seen, even for this summer, that we have had an extraordinarily different summer compared to other years," he said in the ARD summer interview.

"Climate is gradually becoming a side issue," used to "distract from the real problems," said Chrupalla. What people are actually concerned about, he argued, is the state of their pensions and whether gas and electricity are still affordable.

Chrupalla Disputes Scientific Consensus on Climate Change

The AfD considers humanity's contribution to climate change to be "minor," said Chrupalla. However, there is a scientific consensus that the primary cause of the average rise in temperatures since at least the early 1990s is human activity.

Rather than preventing a further rise in temperatures, the AfD calls for "climate adaptation." There must be "air conditioning for everyone" — and Germany "simply needs more electricity, then we can cool things down," said Chrupalla. Air conditioning units are lacking in residential homes, hospitals, and schools.

To cool cities and municipalities, forests must also be reforested. No more forests should be cleared for wind turbines, the AfD leader demanded.

In doing so, Chrupalla implied that wind turbines are responsible for deforestation on a larger scale. In comparison, however, wind power is among the most space-efficient energy sources. According to the Wind Energy Agency, a single wind turbine installed in forests creates 0.5 hectares of open land that cannot be renaturalized — roughly less than one football pitch, which is approximately 0.7 hectares.

AfD Confident of Victory

The AfD is currently recording strong polling results. In the August DeutschlandTrend, the party reached 28 percent — placing it ahead of the CDU. In Saxony-Anhalt, the AfD could for the first time provide the head of government. The question of power is "truly within reach" in the state, said Chrupalla.

However, to be able to govern, his party would currently need an absolute majority, as there is no indication that other parties are willing to form a coalition with the AfD. The party's Saxony-Anhalt branch has been classified as verifiably right-wing extremist by the state's domestic intelligence agency since 2023. The regional association is challenging this classification in court, and proceedings are currently suspended.

The AfD's lead candidate in Saxony-Anhalt, Ulrich Siegmund, also wants to govern alone. Chrupalla was not quite so explicit in the ARD summer interview. The decision of whom Siegmund wishes to govern with lies with Siegmund himself — and the federal executive board will not interfere. However: "We will also talk to — and want to talk to — everyone," said the AfD politician.

Co-party leader Alice Weidel also expressed confidence of victory on ZDF. "We will govern," she said. "Not just in Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Berlin. We will also govern at the federal level."

Chrupalla and Weidel once again spoke out forcefully against the so-called firewall. People no longer wanted to be "excluded," said Chrupalla. The firewall was "the most undemocratic thing there is," said Weidel.

Chrupalla wants to abolish postal voting

The people of Saxony-Anhalt are comparatively old by national standards. The average age in 2024 was 48.3 years. For comparison: the national average age was also 44.9 years in 2024.

Accordingly, the proportion of eligible voters living in care homes in Saxony-Anhalt is comparatively high, at 1.6 percent. In an ARD summer interview, Chrupalla suggested that voting by postal ballot in care facilities could be subject to manipulation. He had been told of cases "where the pen was, so to speak, guided." The politician was unable to provide any evidence for his claim. "These will be isolated cases," he said when pressed. Postal voting had been created as an "exceptional circumstance" — and now it was time to abolish it again, Chrupalla demanded.

The Federal Association of Nursing Professions had already previously criticized Chrupalla's statements. They saw "mistrust directed at people who are there for those in need of care every day."

The co-chairman also called for cameras to be installed to monitor rooms where postal ballot materials are stored. The Federal Returning Officer lists the spreading of doubts about the security of postal voting under the category of "known disinformation." Elections in Germany — including postal voting — are secure.

Politicians' connections to neo-Nazi groups

Politicians or people in the AfD's circle are repeatedly found to have connections to neo-Nazi groups. One example: Laurens Nothdurft. He is the legal counsel of the AfD parliamentary group and the local mayor of Roßlau in Saxony-Anhalt. And he is being discussed as a potential state secretary in the Justice Ministry.

In 1999, Nothdurft was elected as the second national leader of the Heimattreue Deutsche Jugend (HDJ). In 2009, the neo-Nazi youth organization was banned because it opposes the constitution.

For Chrupalla, membership of the HDJ is not problematic, even though the HDJ appears on the AfD's list of incompatible organizations. He did not know what exactly the allegations against Nothdurft were, said Chrupalla. Nothdurft had attended such events in his youth. A person can change. The AfD judges people based on "their current performance."