Klimaschutz durch Kreditfinanzierung

Effective climate protection requires state action and thus financial means. Yet public debt law is often seen as a law of constraint, meant to curb state borrowing and protect future generations from burdens. Johanna Apelt fundamentally questions that understanding. Her close analysis shows that the supposedly threatening consequences of public debt are not inevitable, but rest on legal and political choices. On this basis, she reconceives public debt law as enabling law that secures the state’s capacity to act, and examines central issues in sovereign debt law, such as the concept of investment, the emergency borrowing clause ('Notlagenverschuldungsklausel'), and the scope of individual rights.