German government sued over failure to meet climate goals

The Bund’s climate defense association filed a new appeal on Tuesday, January 24 against the federal government for non-compliance with its climate objectives. The complaint was lodged with the administrative judge of Berlin-Brandenburg.
According to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, they hope to force German leaders to take urgent measures to combat climate change.

Environmental activists accuse government authorities of not having met in 2022 the climate objectives that the country had set in 2021 to achieve carbon neutrality in 2045. The overruns, calculated by ministry, were particularly high in transport and in building. However, denounces the German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (Bund), the ministries concerned have remained idly by instead of setting up an emergency program within three months.

These emergency programs are at the heart of the Climate Protection Act. If authorized emissions are exceeded in a sector, the ministries concerned must submit a program within three months to reduce emissions rapidly. However, this limit, set at a maximum of 756 million tonnes of CO2, was exceeded in 2022, according to calculations by the group of experts Agora Energiewende.

Germany is used to this kind of action. At the end of 2022, the environmental defense group Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) and nine young activists had already brought Berlin before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The previous year, the German Constitutional Court had forced the government of Angela Merkel to review its plan against global warming, in the name of the “fundamental rights” of future generations.
Beyond the legal consequences of a possible conviction, the complaint could “stir the conflict which simmers within the tricolor coalition on the theme of the climate”, affirms the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Composed of Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals, the government is struggling to agree on the strategy to adopt to guarantee the country’s energy security while respecting its ecological commitments.

Billy Omeonga

Billy Omeonga graduated in Journalism and Creative Writing. I have a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. I am currently pursuing an MBA at the University of the People in the United States of America. I love activities that involve ideas and critical thinking. I am passionate about nature and protecting the environment. I believe in protecting our planet and its natural resources. I hate dishonest and pessimistic people. Honesty is an integral part of my view of the world and it is a value in which I strongly believe. I speak French and English fluently. In my free time, I like to read and play the piano. Also, I disapprove of the unreliability. I am a reliable person, so I expect a certain level of reliability from those I am reliable to.

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