Published 29 August 2024 Author: Stefan Talmon
In a judgement of 2 August 2024 on a civil law claim for damages, a German judge invented the concept of ‘nature’, or an individual ecosystem such as a river or forest, as an ‘ecological person’ with its own subjective rights. Based on Articles 2 and 3(1) in connection with Article 37 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the doctrine of human rights documents as ‘living instruments’, the Regional Court of Erfurt, siting as a single judge, found a comprehensive right of ecological persons ‘to have their existence, preservation and regeneration of their life cycles, structure, functions and development processes respected and protected.’ The Court argued that ‘the recognition of specific rights of ecological persons through the interpretation and application of existing Union law is necessary because of the importance and urgency of the ecological challenges – climate change, species extinction and global littering – and the threat of irreversible damage’ (LG Erfurt, Urteil vom 02.08.2024 – 8 O 1373/21).
In another case, the same Court asked the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for a preliminary ruling, inter alia, on the question of whether it was ‘compatible with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and, in particular … the inherent rights of nature established by the Charter, that a claim for damages is ultimately reduced to “zero” due to the offsetting of advantages.’ (Case C-276/20). It will be of interest to see whether the CJEU will follow the German judge.
Category: News
DOI: 10.17176/20240830-143800-0
