Rechtsanwälte Günther Partnerschaft Rechtsanwälte Günther • Postfach 130473 • 20104 Hamburg * Michael Günther * 1 Bundesverfassungsgericht Hans-Gerd Heidel Dr. Ulrich Wollenteit * 2 Schlossbezirk 3 Martin Hack LL.M. (Stockholm) * 2 76131 Karlsruhe Clara Goldmann LL.M. (Sydney) * Dr. Michéle John * Dr. Dirk Legler LL.M. (Cape Town) * by messenger Dr. Roda Verheyen LL.M. (London) * Dr. Davina Bruhn Jenny Kortländer LL.M. (Brisbane) 1 Fachanwalt für Familienrecht 2 Fachanwalt für Verwaltungsrecht * Partner der Partnerschaft AG Hamburg PR 582 Mittelweg 150 20148 Hamburg Unofficial translation Tel.: 040-278494-0 Fax: 040-278494-99 www.rae-guenther.de Constitutional complaint 06.02.2020 00362/19/R /H By the teenagers and young adults Mitarbeiterin: Jule Drzewiecki Durchwahl: 040-278494-11 Email: [email protected] 1) Luisa Neubauer 2) Sophie Backsen 3) Paul Backsen 4) Hannes Backsen 5) Jakob Backsen 6) Lucas Lütke Schwienhorst 7) Franziska Blohm 8) Johannes Blohm 9) Lueke Recktenwald Representative: Attorneys Günther, Mittelweg 150, 20148 Hamburg – attorney Dr. Roda Verheyen and attorney Dr. Ulrich Wollenteit - complainant - Regarding: Federal Climate Protection Act (TN: in German “Bundeskli- maschutzgesetz”) (BGBl. I (2019) p. 2513 ff) Legislative omission Buslinie 109, Haltestelle Böttgerstraße Fern- und S-Bahnhof Dammtor Parkhaus Brodersweg Hamburger Sparkasse Commerzbank AG GLS Bank IBAN DE84 2005 0550 1022 2503 83 IBAN DE22 2008 0000 0400 0262 00 IBAN DE61 4306 0967 2033 2109 00 BIC HASPDEHHXXX BIC DRESDEFF200 BIC GENODEM1GLS Rechtsanwälte Günther Partnerschaft - 2 - In the name of and on behalf of the complainants we lodge a constitutional com- plaint. A certified copy of the powers of attorney is enclosed. Violations of the basic right of human dignity, life and physical integrity (Article 1, Article 2.2 sentence 1 of the Basic Law (TN: in German “Grundgesetz”), each in conjunction with Article 20a of the Basic Law), of freedom of occupation and of the guarantee of property (Article 12.1 and Article 14.1 sentence 1 of the Basic Law), as well as the violation of these basic rights in conjunction with Article 20.3 of the Basic Law with regard to Articles 2 and 8 of the ECHR are submitted. The complainants request to 1. declare that, by implementing a 55 % reduction quota in respect of green- house gases for the target year 2030 pursuant to Paragraph 3(1) of the KSG and by setting annual reduction targets for the energy, industry, transport, buildings, agriculture and waste management and other sectors in Paragraph 4(1) in conjunction with Annexes 1 and 2 of the Federal Climate Protection Act (“Bundesklimaschutzgesetz” hereafter known as “KSG”), the legislature has violated the basic rights of the complainants under Article 1 in conjunction with Article 20a of the Basic Law, Article 2(2), Article 12 and Article 14 2. declare that the Federal legislature is obliged to ensure, within a period of time to be set by the Federal Constitutional Court, by means of a new statutory regulation of the reduction quotas for greenhouse gases, that greenhouse gas emissions in the Federal Republic of Germany are kept as low as possible on the basis of more comprehensible forecasts and taking into account the principle of proportionality. 3. declare that the Federal legislator is obliged to create regulations within the period determined in accordance with No. 2 which prohibit the Fed- eral Republic of Germany from transferring emissions allocations on the basis of section 4 para. 3 of the KSG in conjunction with section 4 para. 3 of the KSG. Art. 5 of Regulation (EU) 2018/842 of 30 May 2018 to European neighbouring states as long as the EU climate protection legis- lation does not provide a level of protection adequate to the basic rights. Rechtsanwälte Günther Partnerschaft - 3 - 4. order the Federal Republic of Germany to reimburse the complainants' necessary expenses. The court is politely informed that the Federal Republic of Germany is, for fac- tually similar reasons to those currently being heard in this complaint, the re- spondent in proceedings involving several children and young people on the ba- sis of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child ratified in 1992 (on the basis of Article 5 of the Third Additional Protocol). Reference is made to the constitutional complaints already before this Court in this or similar matter: - Göppel et al., Az. 1 BvR 2656/18 - Yi Yi Prue et al., Az. 1 BvR 78/20 - Steinmetz et al., Az. 1 BvR 96/20 and - should they be accepted for decision - suggested that they be combined with this complaint pursuant to § 66 of the BVerfGG. The annexes are preceded by an annex list with numbers. The complaint follows the following structure: Rechtsanwälte Günther Partnerschaft - 4 - CONTENT I. Summary of the submissions .................................................................. 7 II. Factual and legal starting point .................................................................... 13 1. Climate change ..................................................................................... 13 a) Scientific basis and German emissions ............................................. 14 b) Climate Change in International Law: The Paris Agreement ........... 22 c) The (inevitable) effects of climate change ........................................ 24 aa) In general ........................................................................................ 24 bb) The generation problem of further rising temperatures .................. 31 (1) Heat waves .................................................................................. 32 (2) Allergies ...................................................................................... 34 (3) Asthma ........................................................................................ 36 (4) Novel diseases ......................................................................... 37 (5) Increased risk of skin cancer ................................................... 38 (6) Global political instability ....................................................... 38 (7) Sea-level rise ........................................................................... 39 (8) Costs ........................................................................................ 39 (9) Tipping Points ......................................................................... 40 2. The CO2 budget ......................................................................................... 42 a) Basics of the C02 budget .................................................................. 42 b) Concrete calculations and breakdown .............................................. 44 c) Negative Emissions or Climate Engineering .................................... 48 III. Federal Climate Protection Act and National Climate Protection Programme ........................................................................................................ 49 1. Statutory climate protection targets – KSG – subject of the complaint 51 2. Missed climate protection target 2020 .................................................. 53 3. Climate Protection Plan 2050 ............................................................... 55 4. Climate Protection Programme 2030 .................................................... 56 5. Feasibility of additional measures ........................................................ 58 a) RESCUE study ..................................................................................... 58 b) Measures from the dialogue on the Climate Protection Plan 2050 ...... 59 Rechtsanwälte Günther Partnerschaft - 5 - c) Further measures ................................................................................... 60 d) Current Coal Exit Act ....................................................................... 61 IV. EU law and EU budget ............................................................................... 63 1. The Federal Climate Protection Act (only) implements EU law .......... 63 2. The EU climate protection regime ........................................................ 63 3. The EU budget and the obligation to act .............................................. 67 V. The complainants ......................................................................................... 70 VI. The decisions in the Urgenda case in the Netherlands ......................... 74 VII. Legal Arguments ................................................................................... 81 1. Admissibility of the constitutional complaint ....................................... 82 a) Capability to complain ...................................................................... 82 b) Subject of complaint ......................................................................... 82 aa) Application under 1. ........................................................................ 82 bb) Application under 2. ....................................................................... 84 cc) Application under 3. ........................................................................ 85 c) Standing to file a constitutional complaint ....................................... 85 aa) Violation of basic rights .................................................................. 86 aaa) Basic rights as duties to protect ................................................. 86 bbb) Art. 1 Basic Law: Human Dignity ............................................ 88 ccc) Article 2(2) of the Basic Law: Right to life and physical