In the fifth cabinet of Johannes Rau, Höhn became Minister for Environment and Agriculture, serving in that position under Rau's successor Wolfgang Clement until 2005. In that capacity, she played a leadership role in Europe’s response to the mad cow disease epidemic in 2001, improved consumer rights and promoted energy efficiency and renewable sources of energy. Höhn has long criticized the industrial production methods of German farmers. Even before entering the German Bundestag, Höhn was a Green Party delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in May 2004.
Member of the German Bundestag, 2005-2017
Höhn first became a member of the German Bundestag in the 2005 federal election. She first served as chairwoman of the Committee on Committee on Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection from 2005 to 2006. Between 2006 and 2013, she was vice-chair of the Green Party's parliamentary group – then led by co-chairs Renate Künast and Fritz Kuhn or Jürgen Trittin, respectively – and headed its working group on environmental, energy, transport, agricultural and consumer policy. From 2005, she was also deputy chairwoman of the German-Brazilian Parliamentary Friendship Group. Between 2009 and 2013, she was part of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with the Baltic States. Following the 2013 federal elections, Höhn stated that agreeing to a coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel would be a “kamikaze” act for the Green Party. Exploratory coalition talks with Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union ended soon after, without results. From 2014, Höhn served as chairwoman of the Committee on the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. Having participated in various UN climate conferences, she was a regular speaker at international climate and energy conventions. Only a few days before a trip to the 2014 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Lima, the Ecuadorian government banned a parliamentary delegation led by Höhn from entering the country. Höhn and her group had planned to visit the Yasuni National Park and meet with people opposed to drilling there. In April 2016, Höhn announced that she would not stand in the 2017 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.
