Introduction. An important socially significant function of environmental media discourse determines the relevance of the research topic, since it has a significant impact on people's worldview. The study of environmental discourse in German media texts is dictated by the fact that Germany has a leading position in the field of environmental protection and promotion of a healthy eco-friendly lifestyle. The scientific novelty of the research lies in an integrated approach to the study of the pragmatic features of environmental discourse and the description of the means of the German language used in modern media texts of this subject. Purpose: to identify linguistic units with high pragmatic potential and describe their functioning in German environmental media discourse. Materials and methods. For this study the sample material included online versions of articles from 2019 to 2024 of the German weekly magazine “Der Spiegel”. In the course of the study, the descriptive method and the method of semantic, contextual and functional analysis were used. Results, discussion. A study of German media texts has shown that the linguistic features of environmental media discourse directly correlate with its pragmatic orientation. On the one hand, it is important that the information in the texts remains objective and relevant. This is achieved by including terms from various fields of science, numerical and mathematical units of measurement, names of research centers and universities, surnames of researchers and experts. On the other hand, the texts of ecological discourse are characterized by expressiveness, which is due to the need for emotional impact on the recipient and prompting a response. The greatest emotional effect is achieved through the use of nominations with negative connotation, slang and colloquial vocabulary, trigger words, intensifier words, superlative adjectives, wordplay, stylistic and grammatical means. Conclusion. In modern society, environmental discourse attracts close media attention due to the relevance of the issues involved. Germany takes an active position in the environmental movement. German media texts on this topic use various language tools with high pragmatic potential.