Abstract
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 Client Earth to learn more about climate legislation and climate litigation in Germany today and what this may mean for climate protection in Germany and beyond.