On November 8, 2021, environmental organization Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH; Environmental Action Germany) brought a claim against the state of Baden-Württemberg (BaWü) asking the Higher Administrative Court of BaWü to order the BaWü government to adopt an integrated energy and climate protection plan to: (i) reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 65% by 2030 (as compared to 1990 levels) and (ii) reach carbon neutrality by 2040. 

The state’s climate protection law (KSG BW), adopted in 2013 and amended in 2021, stipulates that in 2020 and every five years thereafter, the state government shall decide an integrated energy and climate protection concept, which sets out essential objectives, strategies and measures for meeting the overall climate protection goals. This concept is to be decided on the basis of legally mandated monitoring reports and following consultations with civil society associations and federations. Plaintiff complaints that to date, no such integrated energy and climate protection concept exists, even though the KSG BW was amended in 2021. As a result, plaintiff argues, the state is in violation of its own Climate Protection Act. 


Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) v. Baden-Württemberg (BaWü)

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Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) v. Baden-Württemberg (BaWü) - petition

Filed

Germany

Baden-Württemberg

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

A target to reduce the prevalence of a greenhouse gas over a specific time frame

A commitment to balance GHG emissions with removal by a certain point in time, effectively reducing the net emissions to zero

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

The release of heat-trapping gases, primarily from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and industry.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) v. Baden-Württemberg (BaWü) - petition

Target

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Finance