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During the 1970s, when Germany was separated by the Iron Curtain, powerful environmental movements developed. In West Germany the refusal of the implantation of nuclear power plants brings together farmers, pacifist activists and ecologists; in the East it is the quality of life issues facing industrial pollution that are decisive. The party of the German Greens (Grünen) created in 1980, comes from these movements. It established its institutional legitimacy by strengthening the environmental movements in its action in power in the Länder, then at the federal level. Around emblematic episodes such as the renunciation to build the Wyhl power plant, or the action of the Schönau electricity rebels who foreshadow the citizen energy transition (Bürgerenergiewende), energy issues have become a subject of democratic debate. In 2023, the exit of coal, and particularly lignite, is now acute, while a third of German electricity comes from it. New movements, such as Ende Gelände, fuelled by the climate mobilizations of youth around the world and in Europe, occupy mines and villages, denouncing the weakness of governments and demanding immediate commitments. While the Grünen have been part of the government since 2021, and the war in Ukraine is delaying the transition to a decarbonised economy, these determined, organized and media movements are heralding a new stage in German political ecology.