Austria’s Struggle to Respond to Climate Change
Cancelling the planned construction of a highway tunnel beneath a Viennese national park in December 2021, the Green Minister for Climate Action Leonore Gewessler left local politicians outraged. Although the Austrian Constitution provides different links to sustainability and climate change, the Austrian Constitutional Court decided in a landmark case five years ago to interpret the constitutional provisions on climate change in a restrictive manner leading (bottom-up) ambitions to strengthen climate change litigation into a constitutional deadlock. The recent decision of Mrs. Gewessler opens up new (top-down) approaches towards an ecological executive.
