German Court Rules Climate Change Law Unconstitutional
Climate Change activists protest in Germany (Flickr)
Germany’s Constitutional Court ruled Germany’s 2019 Climate Change Act partly unconstitutional on April 29. This decision followed complaints from climate change groups, including Friends of the Earth Germany and Fridays for Futures, which Greta Thunberg helped draw attention to in Spring 2019.
Nine people, supported by Friends of the Earth Germany and Fridays for Futures, filed the complaint which led to the case. They criticized the 2019 law on the basis that it does not do enough to address climate change. They argued that on account of the legislation’s shortfalls, policymakers had compromised their fundamental right to a humane future and placed too much of a burden on the next generations vis-à-vis carbon emission reduction.
When the law passed in 2019, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that “if too much carbon dioxide is emitted, we have to take immediate measures to reach our 2030 goals.” Other parties also had reservations. Leader of the Green Party Anton Hofreiter argued that the law marked “another bad day for climate protection [and] under the current government, real climate protection would be impossible.”
The court stated in its decision that the current law does “violate the freedoms of the complainants, some of whom are still very young” especially as it does not meet the targets of the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement by 2030. “In order to achieve this, the reductions still required after 2030 will have to be achieved more urgently and at short notice. Virtually any freedom is potentially affected by these future emission reduction obligations because almost all areas of human life are still associated with the emission of greenhouse gases and are therefore threatened by drastic restrictions after 2030.”
The German government reacted mostly positively to the court’s determination. Peter Altmaier, the Minister for Energy and Economic Affairs, declared the ruling “big and significant,” while Annalena Baerbock, the Green Party’s nominated Chancellor for this year’s election, called it historic.
Peter Dabrock, former chair of the German Ethics Council, offered a different though nevertheless supportive consideration. “Older people, at least those who are concerned about the well-being of their children and children's children, should rejoice over this ruling. The freedom of the individual ends where the freedom of others begins." That principle is now getting a cross-generational perspective,” he said, quoting philosopher Immanuel Kant.
Climate activists also celebrated the ruling. Luisa Neubauer from Fridays for Futures indicated that the decision made for “an incomprehensibly big day for many people. This is huge. Climate protection isn't nice-to-have, climate protection is a fundamental right.” Now that the ruling has passed, German climate activists must wait to see if the German Parliament enacts a more comprehensive climate law.