Germany
Luca Salis, et al. v. State of Sachsen-Anhalt
Jurisdiction: Federal Constitutional Court
Principle law(s): Federal Climate Protection Act and to change further regulations ("Bundesklimaschutzgesetz” or “KSG")
Side A: Henrike Cremer, Jan Luca Samuel Salis, and Friedrich Hirschmann (Individual)
Side B: State of Sachsen-Anhalt (Government)
Core objectives: The lack of a climate protection law in the State of Sachsen-Anhalt.
Summary
On September 9, 2021, the youth plaintiffs Henrike Cremer, Jan Luca Samuel Salis, and Friedrich Hirschmann, supported by environmental organization Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH; Environmental Action Germany), brought a constitutional claim against the state of Sachsen-Anhalt, for its failure to adopt a climate protection law. An initiative from 2013 was unsuccessful. Plaintiffs invoked the state’s duty to protect their fundamental rights, to request that the state legally stipulate a GHG emissions reduction pathway towards achieving climate neutrality by 2045, to comply with the Federal Climate Protection Act and the overarching 1.5°C temperature target, as informed by the Paris Agreement. This case is part of a series of eleven separate constitutional complaints supported by DUH against ten federal states, following the Constitutional Court’s Neubauer decision in 2021.Case documents
Related laws and policies
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Federal Climate Protection Act and to change further regulations ("Bundesklimaschutzgesetz” or “KSG")
The purpose of this law is to ensure that national climate protection targets are met and European targets are met. It is also intended to support Germany's commitment at the UN climate summit in New York on September 23, 2019 to pursue greenhouse gas neutrality as a long-term goal by 2050. It wa...