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Miersch/Maxeiner v. Germany - press release

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In August 2013, two journalists who had written various articles across different outlets questioning prevailing theories on climate change, brought suit in the Administrative Court of Halle. They requested the German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt) to cease and desist from publishing certain statements in a brochure, which referred to the journalists by name and identified them – amongst others – as “climate-change sceptics”. The journalists based their claim on a breach of their rights to privacy enshrined in Article 2 of the Basic Law (Germany’s constitution).

In late November 2015, the court ruled that the federal privacy protection laws did not prevent the Agency from publishing the brochure. Although the court recognized the validity of the journalists’ rights to privacy in general, it concluded that they were not affected in the present case. The court also noted that the Environment Agency was not restricted to neutrality in its publications. To the contrary, the court stated that the Agency’s task is to educate the public on environmental issues and to conduct scientific research, which necessarily presupposes that it – objectively – also deals with third party publications in an evaluative manner, to be able to inform the public about them. 

The High Administrative Court of Sachsen-Anhalt rejected the journalists' appeal of the lower court's decision in March 2017, as it could not find “serious doubts” as to the validity of the decision.

Miersch/Maxeiner v. Germany

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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.

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