Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) v. Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW)

On December 3, 2020, environmental organization Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH; Environmental Action Germany) brought a claim against the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW), asking the Higher Administrative Court of NRW to order the NRW government to update its climate protection plan. The NRW Climate Protection Act required a climate protection plan to be adopted by 2013 and subsequently updated every five years. NRW’s climate protection plan was adopted in 2015, two years after the deadline had passed. The plaintiffs argue that the plan should have been updated in 2018, five years after the 2013 adoption, rather than in 2020. Given that the NRW government has yet to update its plan, the plaintiffs claim the state government is in breach of its Climate Protection Act, and ask the court to order an immediate update of the plan.