Umweltschutz im Grundgesetz

Do we need a human right for the protection of the environment? The author explores this question by analyzing individual and objective rights for environmental protection in German constitutional law and identifying its deficits. References to international law and the law of the European Union are taken into account. A critical examination is also made of the decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court on the Federal Climate Change Act (24.03.2021) and its effects on environmental protection that derive from human rights and the state’s duty to protect. The author comes to the conclusion that, even in view of the more recent climate case law of the BVerfG, the existing gaps in protection can only be closed with the help of a human right in order to adequately safeguard environmental protection as a prerequisite for the protection of all freedoms that are garanteed by other human rights. To this end, the author develops the basic content of a human right for the protection of the environment and discusses the ways in which this human right could be justiciable. The book ends with a specific proposal for the formulation and systematic location of a human right for the protection of the environment in German Constittional Law.