Sylvia Kotting-Uhl


Sylvia Kotting-Uhl is a German politician of Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Baden-Württemberg since 2005.

Early life and career

Kotting-Uhl spent her childhood in northern Baden. After graduating from high school she studied German, English and art history in Heidelberg, Edinburgh and Zaragoza. Afterwards she worked as a dramaturg at the Baden State Theatre, but when she started her family she decided on an "alternative life in the Kraichgau with self-catering tendencies".
In a second professional life, from 1985 onwards, Kotting-Uhl built up a children's workshop, which she ran for more than ten years and to which a women's workshop is now also affiliated. She also worked as a lecturer for independent educational institutions and completed a distance learning course in psychology.

Political career

From 2003 until 2005, Kotting-Uhl served as co-chair of the Green Party in Baden-Württemberg.
Since the 2005 national elections, Kotting-Uhl has been a member of the German Bundestag. She serves as chairwoman of the Committee on Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. From 2005 until 2009, she was also a member of the Parliamentary Advisory Board on Sustainable Development.
In addition to her committee assignments, Kotting-Uhl is part of the German-Japanese Parliamentary Friendship Group, which she chaired from 2014 until 2018.
Following the 2016 state elections in Baden-Württemberg, Kotting-Uhl was part of the Winfried Kretschmann’s team in the negotiations between the Green Party and Christian Democratic Union on a coalition agreement for Germany's first state government led by the Greens.
In 2017, Kotting-Uhl made news headlines when she successfully filed a complaint against the Government of the United Kingdom for a breach of the Aarhus Convention by failing to notify the German public of the potential environmental impacts of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station.
In early 2020, Kotting-Uhl announced that she would not stand in the 2021 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.

Other activities