The Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) urges the federal government to close the climate‑policy gap in its upcoming 2026 climate protection programme completely. The organisation says it will, if necessary, enforce a judgement from the Federal Administrative Court. DUH’s federal managing director, Jürgen Resch, told the “Rheinische Post” on Wednesday that the court decision they secured at the highest level confirms that the government must end its climate‑law breaches and present a programme containing effective measures such as a speed limit or a genuine heat‑transition. Resch added that the organisation is ready at any time to enforce the judgement against the government should the gap remain unclosed.
Resch characterises the 2030 climate target as “binding law, not a nice‑to‑have”. He criticises the government’s direction, saying that at the European level it is undermining the already‑decided phase‑out of combustion‑engine vehicles, and that the draft Building Modernisation Act would massively widen the existing climate‑goal gap.
The DUH had previously sued over the climate‑programme adopted by the traffic‑light coalition in 2023, and succeeded in the highest court. Consequently, the 2023 programme must be supplemented by the current government with further measures. The court found that the government’s forecasts for the contribution of the planned measures were inaccurate and that a gap of 200 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalents still needs to be closed to meet the intermediate 2030 target. The programme overall must contain every measure necessary to cut greenhouse‑gas emissions by at least 65 % relative to 1990 levels by 2030.