Klimawandel und Grundgesetz – Umfang und Grenzen eines verfassungsrechtlichen Anspruchs auf Klimaschutz

The paper focuses on the Federal Constitutional Courts climate decision of March 24, 2021, which is considered to be the most far-reaching climate protection decision. Public-law climate lawsuits raised the question of the extent to which individuals are entitled to climate protection. The paper first takes up the scientific background of climate change, gives an overview of already existing climate protection regulations and the most important public-law climate lawsuits and their decisions. This is followed by a dogmatic examination before the substantive climate protection content of individual constitutional norms is examined, always with a critical appraisal of the case law. Finally, the paper discusses problems of the admissibility.