Comment: A slap for the would-be climate protection program

The ruling on climate protection targets is embarrassing for a government that is so committed to climate protection. The topic threatened to fade into the background in the face of wars and crises.

It is a judgment that may ultimately have little impact because the federal government can appeal and because an amendment to the Climate Protection Act is currently being debated in the Bundestag anyway. That’s why some people in the government might think it’s not so wild.

Politically, however, the verdict is anything but trivial. It is at least embarrassing for a government that prides itself on being committed to climate protection to be ordered by a court to do more. And it is a ruling that exposes the climate protection program for what it is: a would-be climate protection program. Because the measures listed therein are by no means sufficient to achieve the climate goals. The Federal Government’s expert council had already objected to this. The Berlin Higher Administrative Court has now ruled that the government is obliged to use immediate programs to ensure compliance with the legally specified climate targets.

Climate protection goals seem to be forgotten

The ruling is also important because it comes right in the middle of the current discussion about savings proposals because of the billion dollar hole. The focus is brought back to what currently seems to be forgotten: the federal government’s climate protection goals. Recently, one had the feeling that the accumulation of crises – war, inflation, illegal migration – meant that the ongoing climate crisis was pushed into the background and that climate protection, with the associated demands on the population, no longer really fit the zeitgeist.

In the past few weeks, politicians have heard a lot about the Federal Constitutional Court ruling on the debt brake, but they almost seemed to overlook the fact that there is also a Federal Constitutional Court ruling from 2021 that obliges the federal government to improve climate protection.

Habeck argues primarily economically

In view of the billion dollar hole, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner’s first reaction was to reduce subsidies for the climate-friendly transformation of the economy. And even those who have campaigned for climate protection in the past prefer to talk about the importance of the economy these days – which is nice to see with Climate and Economics Minister Robert Habeck. Since the Climate and Transformation Fund was classified as unconstitutional, the minister’s arguments have primarily been economic. He says that he expects the economy to decline by 0.5 percent because of the budget verdict. He talks less often about what that would actually mean for the emissions reduction targets.

So it may not really fit into the spirit of the times to drum up a big drumbeat for climate protection, and the government may be able to evade the Higher Administrative Court’s ruling by amending the Climate Protection Act by softening the sector goals and thus creating targeted immediate programs for transport and buildings, for example makes obsolete. And yet – the ruling is a reminder that even if the climate protection law is reformed, the federal government must ensure that Germany achieves its climate goals. Because shifting the burden of reduction into the future remains unconstitutional.