The German climate ministry plans to review Thursday's court ruling that the government's climate policies are inadequate and will also assess whether to appeal the decision, a spokeswoman for the Climate Protection Ministry said on Friday.
The Berlin/Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court ruled in favour of two lawsuits filed by Environmental Action Germany (Deutsche Umwelthilfe, DUH) and ordered the federal government to tighten its measures to combat climate change.
The measures planned so far by the coalition government are insufficient to achieve Germany's climate targets by 2030, the court said.
The federal government would have to "take a close look at this judgement and its reasoning" before deciding on how to proceed, the spokeswoman said in Berlin.
The German government has one month after receiving the full judgement to appeal, then it would be up to the Federal Administrative Court, the Berlin/Brandenburg court said.
According to the information provided, it may take some time before the full judgement, including written reasons, is available.
The climate ministry spokeswoman made it clear that Germany wants to "emit significantly fewer greenhouse gases" by 2030 compared to 1990. The specific target is a reduction of 65%. To this end, the federal government "presented a comprehensive climate programme" in October 2023. Under that plan the existing gap in climate targets could be reduced by up to 80%.