German environmental organizations announced three new constitutional objections in Berlin on Wednesday aimed at forcing the federal government to do more to counter global warming.
The objections would be lodged if President Frank-Walter Steinmeier signs an amendment seen as weakening the Climate Protection Act, Greenpeace, Germanwatch and Environmental Action Germany (DUH), said in Berlin, where they presented the new objections along with Fridays for Future and other organizations.
The amendment was passed by the lower house of parliament in April and by the upper house in May and is awaiting Steinmeier's signature before going into force.
"We are meeting here for constitutional objection 2.0," Roda Verheyen, a lawyer acting for one of the objections, said.
In 2021, the Constitutional Court ruled in a historic decision that the government had to improve its climate measures to protect the rights of future generations.
That ruling acceded to the objections of several environmental organizations, including some present at Wednesday's Berlin meeting.
Verheyen said the core problem and reason for the new objections were inadequate policy on climate and the amendment to the Climate Protection Act. "It is unconstitutional," the lawyer said. "The sector targets have been abolished as sector targets. That means that the entire path to reduction is in jeopardy," she added.