Steinmetz, et al. v. Germany II

On October 24, 2023, the German environmental organization Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH, Environmental Action Germany), together with a group of German minors and young adults, filed a new constitutional complaint before the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) against the Federal Government. Building on the principle of intertemporal freedom developed by the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) in the Neubauer decision, the constitutional complaint argues that the climate protection program adopted by the federal government in October 2023 violates the fundamental rights of the plaintiffs. Climate protection programs under § 9 (1) of the German Climate Protection Act are intended to ensure the achievement of climate protection goals, as outlined in the Climate Protection Act. The starting point of the lawsuit is that climate protection programs also have a constitutional dimension because only if the emission reduction path of the climate protection program is ambitious enough can the mandate of intertemporal freedom protection developed by the FCC be upheld. The plaintiffs argue that the current climate protection program is not sufficient to meet Germany’s climate mitigation goals. In particular, they argue that the mitigation gap existing until 2030, with over 200 million tons of CO2 equivalents, probably even up to 331 million tons of CO2 equivalents, is so large that it can only be closed with significant infringements on the civil liberties of citizens. The main aim of the constitutional complaint is for the federal government to immediately adopt a climate protection program that formulates sufficiently concrete climate protection measures based on a consistent data foundation, ensuring compliance with the statutory emission reduction path of Germany’s Climate Protection Act. All other courses of action, the core argument goes, are unconstitutional.