Taking Germany to Court

Karlsruhe, Germany (16 Sept. 2024). Along with over 54.000 claimants, Germanwatch and Greenpeace filed a complaint before the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany to demand a climate law that protects fundamental rights and liberties as well as concrete steps to reduce CO2 emissions in the transport sector. ‘The current climate law has targets that are insufficient and on top of that, the mechanism to ensure compliance with these targets has been substantially weakened’, says the lawyer on the case, Roda Verheyen. ‘Immediate measures are needed in the transport sector in particular to ensure climate protection and social justice.’

In its historic ruling of 2021, the Constitutional Court confirmed that climate protection is a human right and can no longer be delayed at the expense of today’s youth and future generations. This decision triggered an amendment of the Climate Protection Act including the target to reach climate neutrality by 2045. The current government is not on target for 2030, 2040 or 2045. Its recent reform undermines the effectiveness of the underlying governance mechanism in the Climate Protection Act, de facto resulting in higher emissions. Meanwhile the transport sector continues to fall short of its reduction obligations putting climate targets and fundamental rights at jeopardy.

If the Federal Government continues to postpone climate protection measures in the transport sector, more radical measures must be taken in the future. As a new study by the New Climate Institute shows, driving bans for combustion engines may need to be introduced in the 2030s. This would particularly affect people with low incomes, physical disabilities, and/or living in rural areas.
This is one of three constitutional complaints filed against the insufficient climate policy of the German government and the current reform of the Climate Protection Act. Environmental Action Germany (Deutsche Umwelthilfe) as well as Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) have each filed a complaint.