State-level Climate Protection Laws in Germany – a comparative overview

On 8 December 2017, Dr. Stephan Sina, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, presented a comparative overview of climate change laws at state level in Germany at a workshop on the further development of the Climate Change Act for Baden-Württemberg. He focused on common features and differences in the existing climate change acts, and highlighted elements of interest for the amendment of the Climate Change Act for Baden-Württemberg.

The event, which took place in Stuttgart, was organised by the executive department for climate protection at the Baden-Württemberg Ministry for Environment, Climate and Energy. The aim was to discuss potential amendments to the 2013 Climate Change Act for Baden-Württemberg with administrative and academic experts. The workshop covered three main topics: the relevance of climate protection in discretionary and trade-off decisions, the role of the Integrated Energy and Climate Concept in planning, as well as mitigation goals for 2030 and proposals for the further development of climate change acts at state level.

Stephan Sina has worked on climate change legislation at the federal and state level since 2009. Indeed, in 2011 he participated in an expert workshop hosted by the Environmental Ministry on the possible content of the planned Climate Change Act for Baden-Württemberg.