press release
friends of the earth international
15 june 2004
german government sued over climate
change
A legal challenge was launched today to
force the German government to disclose the
contribution to climate change made by
projects supported by the German taxpayer
through its export credit agency Euler Hermes
AG ("Hermes"). The government is refusing to
abide by legislation on freedom of
information.
Germanwatch and Friends of the Earth
Germany (BUND) have taken action against the
German Federal Ministry of Economics and
Labour in the Administrative Court in Berlin.
It follows a similar legal attack on the Bush
Administration's export credit support for
fossil fuel projects [1], and marks the first
European case to enforce the law to combat
climate change [2].
Hermes is a public agency that provides
government-backed guarantees and insurance to
German corporations that seek to do business
in developing countries. It provides billions
of dollars of funding support for energy,
mining and transport projects around the
world on behalf of the German taxpayer [3].
These projects give rise to greenhouse gas
emissions that cause climate change which
affect everybody. Germanwatch and Friends of
the Earth Germany therefore asked the German
government to disclose information on these
projects since 1997, when the Kyoto Protocol
was agreed [4], using German laws based on
European Union legislation on freedom of
environmental information [5]. But the
government refused, claiming all sorts of
legal reasons [6]. Germanwatch and Friends of
the Earth Germany are convinced the reasons
put forward by the government are spurious
and have taken legal action to ensure that
this important information is put in the
public domain where it belongs.
Klaus Milke, Vice-Chairman of Germanwatch
said:
"Transparency is the basis for seriously
assessing how much the export credit agency
and the German taxpayer damages the global
climate. That is why we expect Hermes and
the German government to fulfil their
obligations under the Environmental
Information Law".
Gerhard Timm, Executive Director of
Friends of the Earth Germany said:
"German exports play a vital role in the
climate impact of global energy and
transportation systems. The public has a
right to know how much carbon dioxide
Hermes is indirectly responsible for. The
environmental effects of German export
credits for mining, new power stations and
supplying aircraft overseas must be
urgently taken into account."
Peter Roderick, Director of the Climate
Justice Programme said:
"Climate change litigation has now
arrived in Europe. Legal action of this
kind will intensify until the developed
world and its corporations face up to their
global responsibilities and deliver huge
cuts in greenhouse gas emissions."
Contacts:
Markus Steigenberger, Head of
International Campaigns, Friends of the Earth
Germany
Tel: +49 30 27586 468
Email: markus.steigenberger@bund.net
Friends of the Earth Germany Press Office:
Tel: + 49 30 275 86 464/489
Email: presse@bund.net
Christoph Bals, Germanwatch: Tel: + 49 174
327 5669
Email: bals@germanwatch.org
Germanwatch office: + 49 228 604 920
Peter Roderick, Climate Justice Programme,
UK
Tel: 020 7388 3141
Email: peterroderick@cjp.demon.co.uk
NOTES
[1] The US export credit bodies are being
sued under the National Environmental Policy
Act by Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace,
various cities and individuals for failing to
consider climate change when deciding to
support fossil fuel projects. For more
details see: www.climatelawsuit.org
[2] The Climate Justice Programme supports
enforcement of the law by citizens and their
organisations around the world to combat
climate change. For more details see:
www.climatelaw.org
[3] For example, Hermes has supported
supplies for the building of Paiton 2, a
disputed coal-fired power station in
Indonesia; delivery of tubes into Turkey, to
the Baku-Tiblisi-Ceyhan pipeline throughout
Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey; and delivery
of aircraft by the airbus industry into the
USA, Sweden and Saudi Arabia. Lack of
transparency makes it impossible to assess
exactly what contribution their funded
projects have made to climate change. One
estimate published by the World Resources
Institute (WRI) suggests that Hermes promoted
between 1996 and 2001 fossil projects in
developing countries to an extent of US $2
billion – US $1.5 billion of it for projects
of energy production and about US $500
million for oil and gas projects. On the
other hand, WRI also shows Hermes supporting
about US $5 billion of energy-intensive
projects in developing countries from
1994-99.
More information is available in the
briefing prepared by Germanwatch and Friends
of the Earth Germany:
http://www.germanwatch.org/rio/herbpe04.pdf
[4] The letter of request asked for a list
of all projects in the field of energy
production, for which export guarantees were
granted since 1997, covering coal, oil, gas,
nuclear and renewable categories; the
aggregated sum covered by the export
guarantees for each category; an indication
of fossil fuel type, origin and input along
with energy output and plant efficiency and
projected period of operation; and
identifying those projects which underwent
"an environmental check" in accordance with
guidelines for the consideration of
ecological, social criteria and criteria
related to development policy.
[5] The EU Directive 90/313 on access to
environmental information gives citizens the
right to information on the environment held
by public authorities across the European
Union. This Directive has been transposed
into German domestic law by the Environmental
Information Act of the Federal Republic of
Germany (Umweltinformationsgesetz des Bundes,
UIG). These rights were strengthened in the
Aarhus Convention on Access to Information,
Public Participation and Access to Justice on
Environmental Matters, as a result of which a
stronger EU Directive 2003/4/EC has been
adopted and must be transposed into domestic
law by the Member States by 14th February
2005. The decision of the court in this case,
especially by the European Court to which it
may be referred, will have implications for
access to environmental information
throughout the EU.
[6] Firstly, the Ministry stated that
certain information was already published and
therefore our request was unnecessary. This,
however, is not the case as only selected
projects are available on the internet and
only very vague data are published. Secondly,
the Ministry said it was not subject to the
Environmental Information Act as it does not
fulfil any direct mandate of environmental
protection. In our opinion, this is wrong.
The European Court of Justice has ruled on
this issue several times: the legislation
applies not only to Departments or Ministries
of the Environment. Thirdly, the Ministry hid
behind the alleged protection of the Federal
Criminal Code. § 203 of the Criminal Code
protects trade and business secrets and
prohibits any “inadmissible” publication of
business data. This argument is not
convincing either. The release of
environmental information is not prohibited
under the criminal code.
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