| Scientific backing for climate lawsuits: The Advisory Council for the Environment (SRU), which scientifically advises the federal government, supports the argumentation of several constitutional complaints against the German Climate Protection Act in its form amended by the traffic-light government last year. This was stated in a position statement by the experts to the Federal Constitutional Court on Wednesday.
The revision, according to the panel, jeopardizes the achievement of binding climate targets. Its current calculations also show that the remaining German CO₂ budget is rapidly shrinking and has already been exceeded for the 1.5-degree temperature limit.
Before the reform, the responsible federal ministries had to present immediate programs if the sectors under their jurisdiction—for example transport, energy, or agriculture—missed the statutory CO₂ emission limits in a given year.
This has fallen away in this form due to the reform. Since then, only the overarching climate target for all of Germany is decisive. The government must also wait to tighten its policies until two consecutive years show that it is off track for the 2030 climate target.
Climate Needs Binding Sector Targets
The SRU writes: “In those sectors that regularly exceed their sector targets, without binding sector targets, without political pressure from the responsible ministry, and without a looming immediate program, the incentives to take further measures will continue to be reduced.” Sectors that ambitiously pursue and achieve climate targets could rightly perceive it as unfair “if they have to bear the burdens of other sectors.”
“Without clear sector targets and ministerial responsibility there is no strong ‘fulfilment incentive’ left in the cabinet,” says the SRU. The new post-adjustment principle makes a shift of climate protection into the future more likely.
The assessment gives the constitutional complaints “yet another clear tailwind,” says Jürgen Resch, head of the German Environmental Aid. “Instead of defending the abolition of sector targets and continuing to dilute responsibility, there must finally be a policy that takes the Paris Agreement seriously and treats the CO₂ budget as a binding limit.”
The Environmental Aid is one of the environmental organizations that filed constitutional complaints against the reform of the Climate Protection Act last year, arguing that it violates the fundamental right to life and physical integrity.
