Environmental Action Germany (DUH) v. Land Berlin

On Dec. 9, 2025, environmental organization Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH; Environmental Action Germany) filed a lawsuit against the State of Berlin before the Higher Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg. The case concerns the Berlin Senate's alleged failure to meet its statutory obligation to update the Berliner Energie-und Klimaschutzprogramm (BEK, or Berlin Energy and Climate Protection Programme), Berlin's central climate action program, by 2024. As of the date of filing, the Senate had not presented even a draft of the updated program, and had reduced funding for climate protection measures. According to monitoring data from the Berlin Climate Protection Council, Berlin's GHG emissions declined by approximately 200,000 metric tons per year between 2020 and 2023. DUH submits that this pace of reduction would need to more than triple to meet the legally established target of a 70% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030. DUH requests the court to order the Senate to adopt a legally compliant updated BEK.