Protect the Planet supports lawsuit for the future
Together with over 54,000 co-plaintiffs, Greenpeace and Germanwatch have today submitted a new constitutional complaint against the Federal Government’s inadequate climate policy. For the first time, anyone living in Germany aged 14 and over was able to join the constitutional complaint for a climate-friendly future in around ten weeks. The plaintiffs are calling for a constitutionally compliant climate protection law and steps to reduce CO2-emissions in the transport sector.
‘The German government is delaying effective and socially just climate protection measures and is thus violating civil liberties and equality rights,‘ says the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Roda Verheyen. ‘In order to safeguard our fundamental rights, emission reductions must be introduced and implemented in good time – the amendment to the Federal Climate Change Act of July 2024 achieves exactly the opposite.’
Protect the Planet supports constitutional complaint
Protect the Planet und die Dorothea-Laura-Janina Sick-Umweltstiftung unterstützen die sog. Zukunftsklage von Germanwatch und Greenpeace. Schon 2019 war Protect the Planet als Unterstützerin der ersten Verfassungsbeschwerde beteiligt, die schließlich zum historischen Klimabeschluss des Bundesverfassungsgerichts 2021 führte. Dabei hatten die Beschwerdeführenden in Karlsruhe erfolgreich erstritten, dass Klimaschutz verfassungsrechtlich geboten ist und nicht zu Lasten junger Menschen aufgeschoben werden darf.
Despite this climate resolution, the German government is not on track to achieve its binding climate targets. The 2021 complainants, together with 54,584 people, are therefore once again taking legal action against the violation of their fundamental rights. In particular, the Ministry of Transport under Volker Wissing (FDP) has been criticized for failing to meet its climate targets since 2021 and preventing quickly effective measures such as a speed limit. If the German government continues to postpone climate protection measures in the transport sector, there is a threat of severe cuts and even driving bans for combustion engines as early as the 2030s. This is shown by a study published last week by Greenpeace and Germanwatch from the New Climate Institute. People with low incomes, who live in rural areas without public transport connections or who have physical disabilities would be particularly affected.
Two further constitutional complaints filed
The constitutional complaint is one of three complaints filed by five German environmental associations together with complainants against the Federal Government’s inadequate climate policy and, in particular, the weakening of the Climate Protection Act (KSG). In addition to Greenpeace and Germanwatch, Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) and the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) are each lodging a complaint together with the Solarenergie-Förderverein Deutschland (SFV).
