Svenja Schulze (born 29 September 1968) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). She served as Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development in the cabinet of Olaf Scholz from 2021 to 2025. Schulze has been serving as member of the German

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

since 2021, representing

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

. Schulze served as the Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in the fourth

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021. From 15 July 2010 to 30 June 2017, she was Minister for Innovation, Science and Research in the state government of

.Abgeordnete Svenja Schulze
, landtag.nrw.de

Early life and career

Schulze was born in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

and grew up in the Weckhoven district of

Neuss Neuss (; written ''Neuß'' until 1968; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is on the west bank of the Rhine opposite Düsseldorf. Neuss is the largest city within the Rhein-Kreis Neuss district. It is primarily known for its ...

. She completed her school-leaving exam in 1988 at the Gymnasium Norf in Neuss. She then studied

German Studies German studies is an academic field that researches, documents and disseminates German language, literature, and culture in its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies therefore often focus on German culture, German h ...

and

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, which she completed in 1996 with the academic degree of Magistra Artium. As part of her studies, she also completed an internship at Alice-Salomon-Berufskolleg, a

vocational school A vocational school (alternatively known as a trade school, or technical school), is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary education#List of tech ed skills, secondary or post-secondar ...

in Bochum. After graduating, Schulze worked as a freelancer in the advertising and PR industry. From 2000, she worked as a management consultant specializing in the public sector, including at Mummert & Partner, BBDO and Booz & Company.

Political career

Career in state politics

Schulze joined the SPD in 1988 and served as highschool students' county spokesperson for North Rhine-Westphalia from 1988 to 1989, then as a member of the Socialist College Association and chair of the AStA at the University of Bochum. From 1993 to 1997, Schulze was North Rhine-Westphalia's regional leader of Jusos. From 1996 to 2002 and again from 2006 to 2018, Schulze served on the leadership of the SPD in North Rhine-Westphalia. From 3 June 1997 to 1 June 2000 and again from 22 October 2004, Schulze was a member of the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia. She last moved in for Frank Baranowski, who had been elected Lead Mayor of Gelsenkirchen. In the

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

and

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

elections she was again elected to the state parliament. From 2005 until 2010, she served as her parliamentary group's spokesperson on environmental policy and

consumer protection Consumer protection is the practice of safeguarding buyers of goods and services, and the public, against unfair practices in the marketplace. Consumer protection measures are often established by law. Such laws are intended to prevent business ...

.Nora Marie Zaremba (October 18, 2018)
Bundesministerin für Umwelt: Svenja Schulze sucht ihr Profil
'' Der Tagesspiegel''. In 2007, Schulze took over the chairmanship of the SPD sub-district Münster from Christoph Strässer and held it until 21 May 2011. After 2010 state elections, Minister-President Hannelore Kraft appointed Schulze as State Minister of Innovation, Science and Research of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia ( Cabinet Kraft I). With the abolition of tuition fees in North Rhine-Westphalia, Schulze launched one of the government's major political projects. During her term, the so-called "nuclear sphere affair" regarding the AVR reactor in Jülich occurred. At the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

on 13 May 2012, she won the direct mandate in the Münster II constituency and was directly elected to the state legislature with 40.1 percent. On 21 June 2012, she was appointed again as State Minister of Innovation, Science and Research in the Cabinet Kraft II. From 2017 until 2018, Schulze served as Secretary General of the SPD North Rhine-Westphalia, in this capacity supporting interim chairman Michael Groschek. On 8 December 2017, she was elected to the SPD national board, under the leadership of chairwoman Andrea Nahles. On the following day she was also elected to the SPD Presidium.

Federal Minister of the Environment, 2018–2021

In the negotiations to form a fourth coalition government under

Angela Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, Schulze was part of the working group on education policy, led by Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Stefan Müller and Hubertus Heil. On 9 March 2018, she was nominated by the party executive committee of the SPD as Minister of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in the new government. When Germany held the rotating

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

of the

Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and less formally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) a ...

in 2020, she chaired the meetings of its Environment Council. After SPD chairwoman Andrea Nahles resigned in 2019, Schulze declined to join the race to succeed her; instead

Saskia Esken Saskia Christina Esken (' Hofer; born 28 August 1961) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as co-leader of the party since being 2019 Social Democratic Party of Ger ...

and Norbert Walter-Borjans became the party's co-chairs. During her time in office, Schulze helped implement the Merkel government's 2019 agreement on the introduction of a carbon price for key sectors such as transport and a €54 billion spending package to encourage companies and households to reduce their carbon emissions. She later oversaw the introduction of 2021 legislation under which farmers in Germany would have to gradually reduce their use of glyphosate and stop using it completely from 2024 in order to preserve clean habitats for insects. Later that year, she led the government's efforts to raise Germany's target for reducing carbon emissions by 2030 from 55 per cent to 65 per cent and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045, five years earlier than initially planned. In October 2020, Schulze announced that she would run for a parliamentary seat in the 2021 federal elections. In the elections, she stood in

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

but came in third place. She was elected on the state list. In the negotiations to form a so-called traffic light coalition of the SPD, the Green Party and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) following the elections, Schulze was part of her party's delegation in the working group on climate protection and energy policy, co-chaired by Matthias Miersch, Oliver Krischer and Lukas Köhler. At the COP26 climate summit in 2021, Schulze said that "nuclear power cannot be a solution in the climate crisis." At the time, Germany was engaging in a nuclear phaseout while experiencing an energy crisis and heavily relying on coal and natural gas for power generation.

Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development, 2021–2025

After the SPD won the 2021 election, Olaf Scholz succeeded Merkel as Chancellor and named Schulze as Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, while, under the terms of the traffic light coalition agreement, Steffi Lemke of the Greens took Schulze's old job as Environment Minister. Schulze took office in her new role on 8 December 2021. Along with Hubertus Heil, she is currently the longest-serving cabinet member. In her capacity as minister, Schulze chaired the meetings of the

Group of Seven The Group of Seven (G7) is an Intergovernmentalism, intergovernmental political and economic forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; additionally, the European Union (EU) is a "non- ...

(G7) development ministers when Germany held the group's rotating presidency in 2022. In April 2022, she also co-hosted a donor conference which helped raise $4.8 billion in funding pledges for the vaccine-sharing scheme COVAX. In response to the 2022 food crises, she led G7 efforts to establish the Global Alliance for Food Security, jointly convened with the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

. In September 2022, Schulze made available an additional 200 million euros ($199.02 million) to fund Ukraine's aid programs for those internally displaced as a result of Russia's invasion. In October 2023, Schulze joined the first joint cabinet retreat of the German and French governments in Hamburg, chaired by Scholz and President

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...

Other activities

International organizations

* Joint World Bank-IMF Development Committee, Member (since 2022) * Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA),

World Bank Group The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Group ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2021) *

, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2021)

Corporate boards

* KfW, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Supervisory Directors (since 2018) * NRW.BANK, Member of the Parliamentary Advisory Board (2017–2018)

Non-profit organizations

* Business Forum of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Member of the Political Advisory Board (since 2020) * ZDF, Member of the Program Committee (since 2019) * German Research Foundation (DFG), Member of the Joint Committee (2010–2017) * Max Planck Society, Member of the Senate (2010–2017) * Heinrich Hertz Foundation, chairwoman of the Board of Trustees (2010–2017) * North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts, Deputy Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees (2010–2017) * German United Services Trade Union (ver.di), Member * IG Bergbau, Chemie, Energie (IG BCE), Member * Arbeiterwohlfahrt, Member * Naturschutzbund Deutschland (NABU), Member * Slow Food, Member * "Frauenzeiten", co-founder

Political positions

Amid the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Schulze opposed a waiver from certain provisions of the TRIPS Agreement for the Prevention, Containment and Treatment of COVID-19. In a 2021 interview with '' RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland'', she argued that "as a former science minister, I see patent protection as the basis for successful research and development" and that "the manufacturing process for modern vaccines is so technically demanding and complex that suspending it would not help at all."

Personal life

Schulze has been married to Italian-born

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

ist Andrea Arcais since 2011. The couple live in

.Klaus Baumeister (9 March 2018)
Umweltministerin Svenja Schulze: Mit großer Freude von Münster nach Berlin
�''Westfälische Nachrichten''. Schulze is a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

External links

Official website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schulze, Svenja Government ministers of Germany Living people 1968 births Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Members of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia Politicians from Düsseldorf 20th-century German politicians 20th-century German women politicians 21st-century German women politicians Women federal government ministers of Germany Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia Female members of the Bundestag Women government ministers of Germany Members of the Bundestag 2025–2029