Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

The German constitutional verdict is a landmark in climate litigation

Nature Climate Change volume 12, pages 697–699 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Climate and freedom are interconnected in various ways. The recent German verdict on climate protection realigned the fundamental rights in liberal democratic societies and marks an important step in climate litigation around the world.

Identifying the right climate change mitigation goals is a normative question, not an empirical question. The normative framework of climate change and climate protection is highly contentious because it requires balancing different spheres of freedom and the elementary preconditions of freedom such as life, health and subsistence, that is, the core values of liberal democratic constitutions, and because climate change mitigation goals have to be balanced against other societal goals1,2. Balancing these multiple aspects provides substantial policy leeway for democratic majorities. But where does this leeway end, or put differently, which legal rules limit this policy space?

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Weaknesses of the IPCC emissions budget.

References

  1. Soergel, B. et al. Nat. Commun. 12, 2342 (2021).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Fuso Nerini, F. et al. Nat. Sustain. 2, 674–680 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Verschuuren, J. Rev. Eur. Comp. Int. Environ. Law 28, 94–98 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. McCormick, S. et al. Nat. Clim. Change 8, 829–833 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Setzer, J. & Vanhala, L. C. Wiley Interdiscip. Rev. Clim. Change 10, e580 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Karlsson Niska, T. J. World Energy Law Bus. 13, 331–342 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. The Hague District Court C/09/571932 / HA ZA 19-379 (2021); https://go.nature.com/3nqQQ0E

  8. Tribunal Administratif De Paris Nos. 1904967, 1904968, 1904972, 1904976/4-1 (2021); https://go.nature.com/3yvFiiS

  9. Friends of the Irish Environment versus the Government of Ireland & Ors [2020] IESC 49 (2020); https://go.nature.com/3a30Wlp

  10. King, A. D. & Harrington, L. J. Geophys. Res. Lett. 45, 5030–5033 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Thiery, W. et al. Science 374, 158–160 (2021).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Stuart-Smith, R. F. et al. Nat. Clim. Change 11, 651–655 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Fell, H. & Maniloff, P. J. Environ. Econ. Manag. 87, 1–23 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Jiborn, M., Kander, A., Kulionis, V., Nielsen, H. & Moran, D. D. Glob. Environ. Change 49, 27–34 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Pindyck, R. S. Rev. Environ. Econ. Policy 11, 100–114 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Delreux, T. & Ohler, F. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.1097 (2019).

  17. Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 June 2021 Establishing the Framework for Achieving Climate Neutrality and Amending Regulations (EC) No 401/2009 and (EU) 2018/1999 (‘European Climate Law’) (European Commission, 2021).

  18. Ekardt, F., Wieding, J. & Zorn, A. Sustainability 10, 2812–2827 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Wieding, J., Stubenrauch, J. & Ekardt, F. Sustainability 12, 8858 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Schurer, A. P., Mann, M. E., Hawkins, E., Tett, S. F. B. & Hegerl, G. C. Nat. Clim. Change 7, 563–568 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Spangenberg, J. H. et al. J. Appl. Bus. Econ. 23, 49–72 (2021).

  22. Warszawski, L. et al. Environ. Res. Lett. 16, 064037 (2021).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Desing, H. & Widmer, R. Environ. Res. Lett. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac36f9 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Ekardt, F. Sustainability: Transformation, Governance, Ethics, Law (Springer, 2020).

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was partially funded by the Leibniz Association within the Leibniz ScienceCampus Phosphorus Research Rostock.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Unit Sustainability and Climate Policy, Leipzig, Germany

    Felix Ekardt & Katharine Heyl

  2. Faculty of Law and Interdisciplinary Faculty, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany

    Felix Ekardt

  3. Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany

    Katharine Heyl

Authors
  1. Felix Ekardt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Katharine Heyl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

F.E. developed the underlying human rights perspective, beginning in 2000, and conceptualized and drafted the article. K.H. provided additional content and edited the article. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Felix Ekardt.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Climate Change thanks Robert Glicksman and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ekardt, F., Heyl, K. The German constitutional verdict is a landmark in climate litigation. Nat. Clim. Chang. 12, 697–699 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01419-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01419-0

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing