Ingmar Björn Nolting: An Anthology of Changing Climate

From cruise ships to amusement parks, from solar installations to climate protests, Björn Nolting’s desaturated, cleverly-composed images reveal the paradoxes of Germany’s ambitious climate goals. The outcome is an impressive photographic journey of exploration through a divided society.

Germany’s climate goals are extremely ambitious. On June 24, 2021, the Federal Government approved the stricter Climate Protection Act presented by the governing coalition, and adopted binding emissions goals for the years up until 2045. Among other features, the law stipulates that Germany must achieve climate neutrality by 2045. What this means specifically, is that only as many greenhouse gases can be produced as nature is able to absorb. To achieve this, coal must be phased-out by 2038, 15 million electric cars must be on the country’s roads by 2030, and a massive expansion of renewable energies has been locked into law. However, a law does not automatically become fact: only time will tell whether it can have the hoped-for and urgently-needed effect.

Daily life in Germany is seeing a battle of narratives taking place: on the one hand, there are the ambitious climate goals, and on the other, the defence of fossil fuels. In January 2023, the village of Lützerath in Westfalia became a symbol of that battle, when it was evacuated in favour of the RWE energy concern’s coal mining operation. “When I photographed the evacuation of Lützerath in January 2023, I felt this astonishment for the first time, which is usually the starting point for my projects,” the photograher remembers. “An astonishment about the things, the society and the world we live in. Lützerath triggered this astonishment, made me realise how distant Germany’s climate goals are, how paradoxical political talk and action is, and how difficult it is to find social consensus and democratic compromises on these issues. This feeling threads its way through my work." All these impressions are painfully visible and tangible in Nolting’s images.

At a first glance, Nolting’s pictures often appear undramatic, almost sober. It is only with a second look that they draw the viewer deeper into the complex correlations, into the the tight interweaving of environmental, political and social dynamics. Then they tell stories about a country whose economic wealth is based on the combustion of fossil fuels, reveal the complicated transfer to climate neutrality, and deal with the question of whether, in a consumer society, it is actually possible to find sustainable answers to the climate crisis. In his long-term project, Nolting photographs climate activists, cruise ships, snowy ski slopes and solar installations, a person meditating in the forest as well as a media entrepreneur in his private jet. “An Anthology of Changing Climate” is a collection of finely composed documentary photographs. Each shot opens up its own unique perspective; together they create a restless portrait of a nation at a social and ecological crossroads.

Ingmar Björn Nolting’s project was submitted by Gilles Steinmann, who is among this year’s 80 international LOBA nominators.