The Advance Interference-Like Effect of Climate Targets: Fundamental Rights, Intergenerational Equity and the German Federal Constitutional Court

Minnerop, Petra

doi:10.1093/jel/eqab041

The Advance Interference-Like Effect of Climate Targets: Fundamental Rights, Intergenerational Equity and the German Federal Constitutional Court

Minnerop, Petra

Authors

Professor Petra Minnerop petra.minnerop@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

Some climate lawsuits qualify as landmark cases, because they either mark an unexpected turning point in environmental jurisprudence, or they introduce a new conceptual analysis of the law vis-à-vis the global challenge of climate change. The decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court from March 2021 meets both criteria, it has already defined climate policy and law-making in Germany, and it revolutionised the traditional concept of ‘interference’ with fundamental rights under the German Basic Law. This article examines the order and its significance for climate litigation, legislation and constitutional doctrine, and it analyses how international law defines the state’s objective to protect the climate pursuant to Article 20a Basic Law, including for future generations. On that basis, the article argues that the Court's approach towards intergenerational equity remains limited due to the perception of the carbon budget as ‘freedom budget’.

Citation

Minnerop, P. (2022). The Advance Interference-Like Effect of Climate Targets: Fundamental Rights, Intergenerational Equity and the German Federal Constitutional Court. Journal of Environmental Law, 34(1), 135-162. https://doi.org/10.1093/jel/eqab041

Journal Article Type	Article
Online Publication Date	Dec 29, 2021
Publication Date	2022-03
Deposit Date	Nov 23, 2021
Publicly Available Date	Jan 5, 2022
Journal	Journal of Environmental Law
Print ISSN	0952-8873
Electronic ISSN	1464-374X
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	34
Issue	1
Pages	135-162
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1093/jel/eqab041

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Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.