Heat-health action plans in the parliaments of the German federal states Political discourses on health protection and climate change

Background Heat extremes are associated with additional deaths, also in Germany. In 2017, a federal-state working group published recommendations for the development of heat-health action plans addressed at the federal states and municipalities. Objectives It was of interest to examine to what extent heat-health action plans or measures to protect the population from heatwaves had been discussed in the parliaments of the federal states since the hot summer of 2003. Materials and methods In November and December 2019, a systematic search was carried out in the databases of the 16 federal state parliaments and on the nationwide database Parlamentsspiegel.de. Documents published since 2003 dealing with heat-health action plans or with health protection in the context of heatwaves have been included. Results In three federal states, applications by the opposition to promote or develop heat-health action plans were submitted and rejected. A further 27 documents from a total of 12 federal states deal with heat and human health, mostly small inquiries or requests from the opposition. Mortality, prevention, and especially urban development measures were addressed. Conclusions Health protection during heatwaves is not a priority topic of parliamentary debates at the federal state level. Heat-health action plans seem to be perceived as a primarily municipal task.