German Environmental Aid waives climate lawsuit
Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) and Lower Saxony have reached an out-of-court settlement in relation to a lawsuit against the state's climate protection strategy. The environmental organization is not pursuing the lawsuit any further, the Ministry of the Environment in Hanover announced on Monday. DUH also confirmed the move.
According to the ministry, the background to this is that the climate law planned by the red-green coalition has addressed the core criticisms of DUH and a lawsuit is therefore obsolete. Lower Saxony and Umwelthilfe had drawn up a joint declaration setting out the key points of the improvements brought about by the new climate law.
In April 2022, DUH had filed a climate lawsuit against the state before the Lüneburg Higher Administrative Court. In the opinion of Umwelthilfe, the climate protection measures in place at the time were not sufficient. At the time, the SPD was still in government with the CDU. The SPD and the Greens had agreed on more ambitious climate targets in the new state government. For example, climate neutrality is to be brought forward from 2045 to 2040.
The settlement between DUH and Lower Saxony marks a shift in the state's environmental policy, as the climate law addresses the organization's core criticisms, making a lawsuit unnecessary. This new environmental policy aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2040, an improvement from the previous target of 2045.
Source: www.dpa.com
