Neubauer v. Germany
A ruling of the German Federal Constitutional Court that in March 2021 held the climate law partly unconstitutional for lacking targets after 2030.
A climate law that sets modest reductions up to a date, then falls silent, shifts the effort to later years, when it will have to be abrupt. The German Constitutional Court held that this shift infringes the future freedoms of the young claimants, because a remaining budget exhausted early would later require drastic restrictions. It described fundamental rights as intertemporal guarantees of freedom and ordered the legislature to set targets for the years after 2030. The ruling led to a quick revision of the law, with an earlier neutrality target. For transition risk analysis, it shows that a timetable that is too slow can be struck down and replaced by a tighter one.
On March 24, 2021, the Federal Constitutional Court held the 2019 Federal Climate Protection Act partly contrary to Articles 2 paragraph 2 and 20a of the Basic Law, and required reduction targets from 2031 onward to be set by December 31, 2022 at the latest. The revised 2021 law brought climate neutrality forward from 2050 to 2045.
Follow the research
One letter a week. First, the week's underwriting note, when one is published: a dated, argued decision, signed by Paul Bernardski. Then what the observatory published on cyber risk, political risk and insurance. No account, no tracking.
No spam, one-click unsubscribe, no data ever sold.