Green & Energy: Gehört Klimaschutz ins Grundgesetz?

Extreme temperatures, forest fires, and heat-related deaths have brought climate change back to the political agenda in recent months. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Union have debated the possibility of enshrining climate protection in the German Constitution, but ultimately deferred the issue. The question remains of how climate protection and the constitution can be reconciled.

Emmanuel Schlichter, a jurist at German Zero and chairman of the Association for the Rights of Nature, has been focusing on climate protection and constitutional law since his studies. According to Schlichter, the idea of writing climate adaptation measures as a collective task in the Grundgesetz is not entirely new, but has been under discussion since 2021.

He believes that it is at least one part of the solution. The key to achieving climate goals, Schlichter says, lies in financing – at federal level, but also in the federal states and municipalities. Community responsibility plays an important role here. The principle that the Bund cannot directly finance municipalities, however, needs to be broken.

There are already support programs, such as financing urban heat planning or state subsidies for building renovations. But this is not enough, Schlichter says. Overburdened municipalities, which are facing an investment backlog built up over years, are a significant part of the problem. At the same time, the state has increased its defense spending and is facing growing pressure regarding social spending.

Schlichter nevertheless warns that adaptation alone is not enough: "Adapting to a world that has warmed by three or four degrees is not possible or very, very difficult." The cost of adaptation increases with every tenth of a degree of warming. Therefore, it is important to consider climate protection measures and adaptation together.

Climate protection measures could also benefit adaptation, for example by providing shade with solar panels. The jurist also stresses the urgency of the situation: "Depending on how the next elections turn out, a community task may become difficult again. That means, if a community task is still realistic, it will have to be done before then."