Climate in Court: How and why in 2023 the German Government lost - twice, and what happens next
About the Event
Two climate-related court decisions in late 2023 seemed to squeeze the German government from two sides: One was brought by NGOs and climate activists who sued the government for not following its 2021 climate protection law. The other lawsuit was brought by the opposition against the government’s decision to use billions of Euros left over in a special Covid-19-relief fund for climate measures instead. In both cases the courts ruled against the government. As scientists confirm that 2023 was the hottest year on record, and possibly the warmest in over 100,000 years, join Christiane Gerstetter from ClientEarth to learn more about these court decisions and what this may mean for climate protection in Germany and beyond.
About the Speaker
Dr Christiane Gerstetter works as a Senior Lawery in the German office of ClientEarth, a global environmental law charity that uses the power of the law to for a future in which people and the planet thrive together. One of her focus areas at ClientEarth is the sustainable transformation of the energy system. Before joining ClientEarth in 2019, she worked for 15 years at the environmental think tank Ecologic Institute as a researcher and consultant to public sector institutions and covered issues such as international trade, environmental crime as well as EU environmental law and policy.