Court ruling: France needs to improve its climate protection

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Must be detained: France's Environment Minister Barbara Pompili and President Emmanuel Macron (archive image)

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THIBAULT CAMUS / AFP

Half a year after the landmark ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court on climate protection, environmental protection organizations have achieved another legal success.

The Paris administrative court ruled that the French state will have to offset excess greenhouse gas emissions by the end of next year.

Specifically, it is about the fact that France has exceeded the self-imposed upper limit for the years 2015 to 2018 by several million tons of greenhouse gases.

In February, the court had already blamed the government for failures in the fight against global warming.

According to the court ruling, the country now has to compensate.

The court left to the government to decide exactly what steps France should take to compensate for this.

However, it stressed that this should be done quickly.

Because excessive greenhouse gas emissions caused continuous and growing ecological damage.

In the proceedings, four environmental organizations sued France for inaction.

"A great victory for our future and our rights," was the initial reaction of the organization Notre Affaire à Tous.

"We won.

The state not only has to catch up, but also repair the damage, ”said Oxfam director Cecile Duflot on Twitter.

The plaintiffs also included Greenpeace and the foundation of former Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot.

The government has not yet commented.

In several European countries, climate protection activists are going to court to force effective measures to combat the climate crisis.

In the Netherlands, the Supreme Court ordered the government at the end of 2019 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions faster than planned.

The historic decision of the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe followed in April.

Federal government responded in two weeks

The Karlsruhe judges oblige the federal government to regulate the reduction targets for greenhouse gas emissions for the period after 2030 in more detail by the end of next year.

Constitutional complaints from several climate protectors, including Fridays for Future, were partially successful at the time.

Inadequate climate protection today means that tomorrow's generations will be deprived of their rights to freedom, argued the Karlsruhe judges.

After all, more radical measures would have to be taken in the future to protect against the effects of the sharply rising temperatures.

Just two weeks after the court decision, the Federal Cabinet initiated the improvements in May.

The targets envisage a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by at least 65 percent compared to 1990 levels by 2030; previously the target was 55 percent.

In addition, Germany must be climate neutral by 2045 instead of 2050.

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