The WWF welcomed the decision of the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig, which affirmed that Germany’s climate protection programme must be comprehensive, stringent, and coherent enough to meet the legally binding target of achieving carbon neutrality no later than 2045. Viviane Raddatz, WWF Germany’s climate chief, said that the court’s ruling clarifies exactly what is required: a robust package of measures that genuinely delivers on this goal, ensuring the country’s future security and well‑being in the medium and long term.
Raddatz also criticised the current federal climate policy. “It feels like politics are playing a guessing game with the biggest crisis of our time, switching directions at random” she remarked. “The aim is not ‘warmer, warmer, hotter'”. She added that the coming deadline in March to submit a new climate protection programme, together with the 2027 budget preparation, presents a crucial opportunity to lay a solid foundation for effective climate action. The right mix of measures and investments can keep the economy on course while raising people’s quality of life today and in the future. “Climate protection must be a programme” Raddatz stressed.
The court’s ruling, issued on Thursday, requires that the climate programme contain all actions necessary to cut greenhouse‑gas emissions by at least 65 % relative to 1990 levels by 2030. It criticised the federal government’s forecasts for the impact of planned measures as inaccurate and pointed out a shortfall of 200 million tonnes of CO₂‑equivalent that needs to be bridged to reach the 2030 intermediate target. The government is now free to decide which new measures to adopt, provided they are sufficient to meet that intermediate goal.
Even regardless of the court’s decision, the Bundestag is under statutory obligation to present a new climate protection programme by 25 March. That programme will go beyond the Thursday‑voted measures by ensuring not only the 2030 target but also the 2040 objective and the specific goals for each intermediate year from 2031 to 2040.
