Steffi Lemke (born 19 January 1968) is a German politician of

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (for ...

who has been serving as Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety, and Consumer Protection in

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Olaf Scholz Olaf Scholz (; born ) is a German politician who has served as the chancellor of Germany since 8 December 2021. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), he previously served as Vice Chancellor under Angela Merkel and as Federal Minister ...

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

since 2021. Lemke has been a

member of the Bundestag Member of the German Parliament (german: Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestages) is the official name given to a deputy in the German Bundestag. ''Member of Parliament'' refers to the elected members of the federal Bundestag Parliament at the Reich ...

from the state of

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

from 1994 through 2002 and since 2013.

Education and early career

After attending a polytechnic secondary school in

Dessau Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Ro� ...

, Lemke initially trained as a zoo technician from 1984 to 1986. Afterwards she worked as a letter carrier from 1986 to 1988. She also attended a secondary school leaving certificate course at the

Philanthropinum The Philanthropinum (''from Greek: φίλος = friend, and άνθρωπος = human'') was a reformist, progressive school in Dessau, Germany from 1774 to 1793. It was based on the principles of philanthropinism, an educational movement developed ...

in Dessau. After graduating from high school in 1988, she studied agricultural science at the

Humboldt University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (german: link=no, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public university, public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established ...

, graduating in 1993 with a degree in agricultural engineering (specialising in animal production).

Political career

Lemke was one of the co-founders of the Green Party in the GDR in 1989. She first served as a member of the German Bundestag from 1994 to 2002, representing the

Dessau-Roßlau Dessau-Roßlau () is a '' kreisfreie Stadt'' (urban district) in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is situated at the confluence of the rivers Elbe and Mulde. The town was formed by merger of the towns of Dessau and Roßlau in the course of t ...

and

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the River Elbe, north of ...

districts. During that time, she was part of the Committee on Food and Agriculture. From 2002 to 2013 Lemke worked as the Green Party's managing director, under the leadership of co-chairs Angelika Beer (2002–2004),

Reinhard Bütikofer Reinhard Hans Bütikofer (born 26 January 1953) is a German politician who has been serving as a member of the European Parliament since 2009. He is a member of the Alliance 90/The Greens, part of the European Green Party. He was the co-chair of A ...

(2002–2008),

Claudia Roth Claudia Benedikta Roth (born 15 May 1955) is a German politician (Alliance 90/The Greens). She was one of the two party chairs from 2004 to 2013 and previously served as one of the vice presidents of the ''Bundestag''. She is also currently ser ...

(2004–2013) and

Cem Özdemir Cem Özdemir (, ; born 21 December 1965) is a German politician who currently serves as Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture since 2021. He is a member of the Alliance 90/The Greens party. Between 2008 and 2018, Özdemir co-chaired the Gr ...

(2008–2013). In this capacity, she managed her party's campaigns in three national elections which were all successive. In late 2013, she considered running for the party's leadership but ultimately pulled out from consideration, instead making room for Simone Peter. Since the

2013 elections The following elections were occurred in the year 2013. Asia * 2013 Armenian local elections 26 May, 17 November, and 8 December 2013 * 2013 Armenian presidential election 18 February 2013 * 2013 Bangladeshi presidential election 22 April 2013 ...

, Lemke has been a member of the German Bundestag again, where she served as one of four whips of her

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary party, or parliamentary caucus is a group consisting of some members of the same political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or a city council. Parliamenta ...

under the leadership of the group's co-chairs

Katrin Göring-Eckardt Katrin Dagmar Göring-Eckardt (born Katrin Dagmar Eckardt; 3 May 1966) is a German politician of the German Green Party (officially known as Alliance 90/The Greens). Starting her political activity in the now-former German Democratic Republic (E ...

and Anton Hofreiter from 2013 until 2021. In this capacity, she was a member of the parliament's Council of Elders, which – among other duties – determines daily legislative agenda items and assigns committee chairpersons based on party representation. Lemke was also a member of the Committee on the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. She served as her parliamentary group's spokesperson for nature conservation policy. In addition to her committee assignments, she was part of the German Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with the States of Central America. Following the 2016 state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, Lemke was part of her party's delegation in the negotiations on forming Germany's first-ever coalition government between the Christian Democratic Union, the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

and the Green Party. She was briefly considered to join the government subsequently formed under the leadership of

Minister-President A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. I ...

Reiner Haseloff Reiner Haseloff (born 19 February 1954) is a German politician who serves as the Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt. On 9 October 2020, he was elected President of the Bundesrat. His one-year term started on 1 November 2020. Political career ...

and become State Minister for the Environment and Agriculture; however, the position instead went to Claudia Dalbert.

Career in government

In the negotiations to form a so-called

traffic light coalition In German politics, a traffic light coalition (german: Ampelkoalition) is a coalition government of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Alliance 90/The Greens. It is named after the parties' tradit ...

of the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote s ...

(SPD), the Green Party and the FDP following the 2021 federal elections, Lemke led her party's delegation in the working group on

environmental policy Environmental policy is the commitment of an organization or government to the laws, regulations, and other policy mechanisms concerning environmental issues. These issues generally include air and water pollution, waste management, ecosystem ...

; her co-chairs from the other parties were

Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter (born 13 October 1962) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who serves as a member of the German (the German federal parliament) and was Parliamentary State Secretary in Chancellor Angela Merkel ...

(SPD) and

Stefan Birkner Stefan Birkner (born 12 April 1973 in Münsterlingen) is a German politician for the Free Democratic Party (FDP). Political career Birkner was elected to the State Parliament of Lower Saxony in the 2008 state elections. However, in February 2 ...

(FDP). The negotiations led to the successful formation of a government, and Lemke took up the post of Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection in the new cabinet, serving under

. In 2022, Lemke introduced draft legislation requiring manufacturers of products made with single-use plastic, such as bottles and cups, to pay an annual levy into a fund to help municipalities with the cost of clearing up litter.

Other activities

* KfW, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Supervisory Directors (since 2021) * International Academy for Nature Conservation (INA), Member of the Advisory Board

Personal life

Lemke is divorced and lives with her current partner in

. She has a son.Heidi Thiemann (17 September 2021)
Steffi Lemke ist Direktkandidatin der Grünen und hat große Lust aufs Mitregieren im Bundestag
''

Mitteldeutsche Zeitung The ''Mitteldeutsche Zeitung'' (''Central German Newspaper'') is a regional daily newspaper for southern Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Published in Halle with several local versions, the paper is owned by M. DuMont Schauberg, Cologne. History and ...

''.

References

External links