5 Years Since the Climate Resolution: What's the Situation Regarding Heat and the Law?

Five years after the Federal Constitutional Court’s landmark „climate ruling,“ parties to the proceedings are discussing its implications for the climate, the law, and politics.

Karlsruhe, January 28, 2026. The Forum Recht Foundation, the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, and the theater collective Futur II Konjunktiv (Johannes Wenzel and Matthias Naumann) invite you to an event on Sunday, February 8, at 4:00 p.m. Panel Discussion: „5 Years Since the Climate Resolution: What’s the Situation Regarding Heat and the Law?“ at the Baden State Theater.

Through a discussion with the panelists, the event will look back and ahead at the possibilities and limitations of the law regarding climate protection, explore the often-difficult relationship between the law and its implementation, and examine what the fight for the right to climate protection means for those who are fighting for it. Together with participants in the legal proceedings that led to the Federal Constitutional Court’s 2021 climate ruling, we will take a look behind the scenes of the proceedings: What interests were at stake in the case? What exactly did the Federal Constitutional Court establish in its „climate ruling,“ and what has happened since then? What does this mean for the role of courts in climate protection and for the law as an instrument of change?

With Dr Cord Brügmann (Director of the Forum Recht Foundation) will discuss these and other issues:

Prof. Dr.. Remo Klinger, attorney specializing in administrative law; among other things, attorney for the „climate plaintiffs“ of 2020–21.

Marissa Reiserer, mobility expert at Greenpeace

Prof. Dr. Joachim Wieland, a legal scholar and legal representative of the Federal Government in the 2020–2021 proceedings.

The occasion for the event is the Revival of the play „The Heat and the Law“. It will take place immediately following the event at 6:30 p.m. at the Insel, Karlstr. 49b.