German court says government must tighten climate protection plan
The German government must tighten up its climate protection programme because the measures agreed to so far are insufficient to achieve the country's climate goals, the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court ruled on Thursday.
The decision upholds two lawsuits filed by Environmental Action Germany or Deutsche Umwelthilfe. The ruling said the federal government's measures in their current form do not meet the legal requirements.
The federal government can appeal to the Federal Administrative Court, thereby postponing the judgement.
The group had already taken legal action against the German government's climate policy once before and won in November.
At that time, the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court ruled that the government must launch an emergency climate programme in the transport and buildings' sectors. The appeal against this judgement is currently being heard by the Federal Administrative Court.
The environmental group based its lawsuits on requirements set out in Germany's Climate Protection Act, which calls for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 2024 to 2030. In addition, the law sets the target of reducing all these emissions by at least 65% by 2030 compared to 1990.
Last year a reduction of around 46% was achieved.
The climate protection programme is considered a kind of overall plan by the federal government to achieve these targets. It lists numerous measures in the transport, energy, buildings, industry and agriculture sectors.
