Klaus Töpfer, a former German environment minister and longtime politician with the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU), has died. He was 85 years old.
Töpfer, who led the Environment Ministry from 1987 to 1994, died on Saturday after a short but serious illness. A CDU spokeswoman confirmed his death to dpa on Tuesday.
He is credited with leaving a lasting mark on German environmental party, and was viewed as the "green conscience" of the Christian Democrats for decades, remaining outspoken in his advocacy for sustainable policies well into old age.
He took over the ministry less than two years after it was created in the wake of the April 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union, which sent radioactive fallout into the air over Europe.
Then-chancellor Helmut Kohl responded by combining environmental issues and nuclear reactor safety programmes into a single ministry.
As early as 1988, Töpfer was advocating for a future without nuclear energy as well as fewer fossil fuels.
He was replaced as environment minister in 1994 by Angela Merkel, then a rising star in the CDU who went on to lead the country from 2005 to 2021.
Töpfer was born in Silesia, in what is now Poland, in 1938. He moved with his family to the town of Höxter in western Germany after World War II.
After stepping down from the Cabinet, Töpfer went on to work with the United Nations in several capacities between 1996 and 2006.
At the end of his life, Töpfer again lived in Höxter along with his wife.
