decision

Greenpeace et al. v. Austria - decision

<p>This entry was provided by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

Litigation

Sabin

Sabin Litigation

application

Greenpeace et al. v. Austria - application

Filing Year For Action

On February 20, 2020, Greenpeace Austria and 8,063 petitioners filed a request with the Constitutional Court to invalidate tax exemptions that give credits to air travel and not railways. The request arises out of Article 2 and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, Article 2 and Article 7 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and the principle of equality before the law. The submission also contains a request for preliminary ruling with the European Court of Justice regarding the legal nature of Article 37 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

The request asserts that the value-added tax exemption on cross-border flights and the kerosene exemption on national flights contribute to climate change by making it less expensive to fly than to take the train. The petitioners argue that the consequences of the climate crisis pose an imminent and foreseeable threat to their lives, and that Austria has a duty to protect its citizens from these consequences as a party to the Paris Agreement and based on its constitutional duty to protect arising out of the European Convention on Human Rights. Petitioners further argue that the challenged tax exemptions damage the climate and constitute an active infringement of this duty. The petition also alleges that the tax exemptions constitute a preferential treatment for the aviation sector, in violation of the constitutional principle of equality before the law. 

Lastly, the petition includes a request for a preliminary ruling with the European Court of Justice, alleging that while both tax exemptions are allowed for, they are not explicitly provided for in the respective EU directives. This claim asserts that Article 37 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights should be interpreted as creating an enforceable right to a high level of environmental protection.

On September 30, 2020 the Constitutional Court dismissed the case on the grounds that rail passengers do not have standing to sue over preferential tax treatment given to air travel.


Greenpeace et al. v. Austria

The Climate Litigation Database

Find climate change litigation data and indicators for {text}.

{text} litigation

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides Climate Litigation Database, a comprehensive database of US and Global climate change caselaw

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Search the Climate Litigation Database

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.

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

This sector involves the wholesale and retail selling of goods.

A long-lived, colourless gas, chiefly emitted from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and cement production.

Any compulsory, unrequited payment to the government levied on corporations or individuals. This can be for environmental reasons, such as introducing a Carbon tax to set a price that emitters must pay for the greenhouse gases they emit.

Terrestrial means "of the earth" and relates to the risks to ecological system that includes all living organisms and their interactions within land-based environments, such as forests, grasslands, and deserts.

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

A ban is a legal action that prevents the sale or supply of a product or service, or that recalls a product from the market. Examples are bans on SF6, greenwashing, fossil fuel advertisement or single-use plastics.

A tax advantage is an economic benefit applied to certain accounts or investments that are, by law, tax-reduced, tax-deferred, or tax-free. This can apply to investments in areas such as green energy projects or the agricultural sector, where tax advantages can help manage financial risks.

Hot temperature extremes are daily maximum temperatures  that were exceeded on average once in a decade or once in 50 years, and includes heatwaves.

The activities of industries that transforms raw materials into finished goods through industrial processes.

Activities of industries that extract natural resources, such as mining, oil, and gas, for commercial use.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

woman and genders outside of the gender binary

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

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

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

People who are less able to respond to the effects of climate change due to having limited financial or physical assets

Geohazards are adverse geological phenomenon's that are capable of causing widespread damage or loss to property, life and the environment, such as earthquakes, volcano eruptions and tsunamis. Climate change can increase the frequency and severity of some geohazards, such as landslides, and soil erosion.

Greenpeace et al. v. Austria - decision

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Finance