Environmental Action Germany

Last updated
Environmental Action Germany
Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V.
Location
  • Hannover, Germany
Website www.duh.de

Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V. (DUH) (employing the English name Environmental Action Germany) is a non-profit environmental and consumer protection association, supported by public and private project grants and donations. It is a member of the European Environmental Bureau, in Brussels. It has the legal right to represent group claims in court against projects that it considers a threat to the environment. The group also aims to provide a forum for dialogue between environmental organizations, politicians and business people.

Contents

Notable work

Frieda Egeling, the youngest of the 11 complainants in the KSG case, photographed in December 2024 Frieda Egeling Fridays For Future Berlin in profile during Frack Off demo 10 Dec 2024 close two.jpg
Frieda Egeling, the youngest of the 11 complainants in the KSG case, photographed in December 2024

In 2017, DUH filed a suit against Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), accusing it of failing to act robustly enough over Volkswagen's diesel emissions scandal. [1]

In 2023, DUH lodged a complaint calling for the operating licence of the Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) ship Höegh Esperanza at Wilhelmshaven LNG terminal to be shortened by a decade citing its discharging of chlorine and risks to Germany's climate targets. [2]

In May 2024, the DUH launched legal action against the German federal government for failing to act sufficiently under the Climate Protection Act (Klimaschutzgesetz or KSG). [3] [4] There are 11 accompanying complainants, with the youngest being 14 years old at the time of filing. [5] [6]

Political pressure

At its party congress on 8 December 2018, Germans conservative party CDU decided to have the non-profit status of the DUH examined. The motion was tabled by Steffen Bilger, a member of Bundestag for CDU, who is also Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Federal Ministry of Transport, as chairman of the CDU district association Nordwuerttemberg. The CDU also wants to ensure that the association no longer receives funds from the federal budget. The Federal Ministry for the Environment and the Federal Ministry of Economics subsequently declared that they would continue to promote the DUH. The responsible tax office in Singen stressed that it could only take action if there were concrete indications. In the ARD magazine Monitor, the lawyer Joachim Wieland commented on Bilger's stance against the DUH that the policy had long watched in connection with the violations of emission values and did not intervene out of consideration for the automotive industry. Now they are trying to steer the resulting anger away from politics and the automotive industry, towards the courts and the Environmental Action Germany. [7]

Critics

In March 2017, local newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung criticized the organization, calling it "an interest group financing by Cease and desist ( Abmahnungen )“. [8]

In February 2024 Focus online reported, that the DUH had made an offer to the lobbying group "Erdgas Mobil" in December 2016 to promote Natural gas as fuel for vehicles as part of it´s campaign against the Diesel engine. In the proposal, signed by DUH boss Jürgen Resch, Environmental Action Germany offered to mobilize it´s network of partners and asked for 2.1 million euros for the campaign, but the offer was ultimately rejected by the lobbyists. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alliance 90/The Greens</span> Green political party in Germany

Alliance 90/The Greens, often simply referred to as Greens, is a green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens and Alliance 90. The Greens had itself merged with the East German Green Party after German reunification in 1990.

<i>Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung</i> German daily newspaper

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commerzbank</span> European commercial bank

The Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft is a European banking institution headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany. It offers services to private and entrepreneurial customers as well as corporate clients. The Commerzbank Group also includes the German brand Comdirect Bank and the Polish subsidiary mBank.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas de Maizière</span> German politician

Karl Ernst Thomas de Maizière is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Federal Minister of the Interior from 2009 to 2011 and 2013 to 2018, as well as Federal Minister of Defence from 2011 to 2013. He previously served as Head of the Chancellery and Federal Minister for Special Affairs in the First Merkel cabinet from 2005 to 2009. Since 2009, he has been a member of the Bundestag for Meißen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Gauweiler</span> German politician (born 1949)

Peter Gauweiler is a German lawyer and politician of Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) who served as a member of the German Bundestag from 2002 to 2015, representing the Munich South district. From 2013 until 2015, he also served as deputy leader of the CSU, under the leadership of chairman Horst Seehofer. He resigned his parliamentary seat and leadership post in 2015 at age 65.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Bareiß</span> German politician

Thomas Bareiß is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the German Bundestag since 2005. From 2018 to 2021, he held the position of Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy in Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oliver Krischer</span> German politician (born 1969)

Oliver Krischer is a German politician of the Alliance '90/The Greens who has been serving as State Minister for Environment, Nature Protection, and Transport in the government of Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia Hendrik Wüst since 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volker Bouffier</span> German politician

Volker Bouffier is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Minister President of the German state of Hessen from 31 August 2010 to 31 May 2022. From 1 November 2014 until 31 October 2015 he was President of the Bundesrat and ex officio deputy to the President of Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MAN Energy Solutions</span> German company

MAN Energy Solutions SE is a German manufacturer of large diesel engines and turbomachinery for maritime and stationary applications based in Augsburg. The company develops and manufactures two-stroke and four-stroke diesel engines, as well as gas turbines, steam turbines, and compressors. MAN Energy Solutions also offers turbochargers, propellers, gas engines, and chemical reactors. Additionally, it produces ship engines that run on synthetic fuels and develops technologies for carbon capture and storage (CCS), large heat pumps, and electrolysers for the production of green hydrogen. The company employs around 15,000 people at more than 140 international locations, particularly in Germany, Denmark, France, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, India, and China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jens Spahn</span> German politician (born 1980)

Jens Georg Spahn is a German politician who served as Federal Minister of Health in the fourth cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021. A member of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he has been the member of the lower house of the federal parliament, the Bundestag, for Steinfurt I – Borken I since 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carsten Linnemann</span> German economist and politician

Carsten Christoffer Linnemann is a German economist and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been a member of the German Bundestag since the 2009 election, representing Paderborn. Since 2022, he has been one of five deputy chairs of the CDU, under the leadership of chairman Friedrich Merz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jana Schimke</span> German politician

Jana Schimke is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who is a member of the Bundestag, the German federal parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephan Mayer</span> German politician

Stephan Ernst Johann Mayer is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Social Union (CSU) who has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2002. In 2022, he briefly served as the Secretary General of the CSU, under the leadership of the party's chairman Markus Söder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 German federal election</span>

Federal elections were held in Germany on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the 20th Bundestag. State elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were also held. Incumbent chancellor Angela Merkel, first elected in 2005, chose not to run again, marking the first time that an incumbent Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany did not seek re-election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helge Braun</span> German politician

Helge Reinhold Braun is a German physician and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Between 2018 and 2021, he served as Head of the Chancellery and Federal Minister for Special Affairs in the fourth coalition government of Chancellor Angela Merkel. He was the Parliamentary Secretary of State for Bureaucracy Reduction and Federal-State Relations at the Chancellery between 2013 and 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steffen Bilger</span> German politician

Steffen Bilger is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and member of the Bundestag for the constituency of Ludwigsburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katja Leikert</span> German politician (born 1975)

Katja Isabel Leikert is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since 2013, representing the Hanau electoral district. Within the CDU/CSU Bundestag Group, parliamentary colleagues elected her one of the alliance's eleven Bundestag deputy chairpersons in January 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mathias Middelberg</span> German politician

Mathias Middelberg is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Lower Saxony since 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bettina Wiesmann</span> German politician (born 1966)

Bettina Margarethe Wiesmann is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Born in Berlin, she has served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Hesse from 2017 to 2021 and again since 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthias Zimmer</span> German politician (1961–2023)

Matthias Zimmer was a German author and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Hesse from 2009, winning a constituency in Frankfurt am Main for three terms until 2021.

References

  1. ↑ Jan Schwartz, Maria Sheahan and Andreas Cremer (March 24, 2017), German environmental lobby sues motor authority over VW scandal Reuters .
  2. ↑ Madeline Chambers and Rachel More (11 January 2023), German green group files complaint seeking shorter LNG terminal licence Reuters .
  3. ↑ Anon (16 May 2024). ""Klimaklagen" der DUH erfolgreich – 18/24" [DUH's "climate lawsuits” successful – 18/24]. Pressemitteilung. Oberverwaltungsgericht Berlin-Brandenburg (in German). Berlin, Germany. Retrieved 2024-12-15.
  4. ↑ DUH. "Werde Klimaheld und schließ dich den Klimaklagen an!" [Become a climate hero and join the climate action!]. Deutsche Umwelthilfe eV (in German). Hannover, Germany. Retrieved 2024-12-13.
  5. ↑ Marggraf, Ann-Kathrin (25 June 2024). Liste Beschwerdeführende [List of complainants](PDF) (in German). Freiburg, Germany: Deutsche Umwelthilfe eV (DUH). Retrieved 2024-12-13.
  6. ↑ Egeling, Frieda (28 June 2024). "Eine 14-jährige Schülerin ist wütend auf die Regierung – und zieht vor Gericht" [A 14-year-old student is angry at the government – and takes it to court]. watson.de (in German). Berlin, Germany. Retrieved 2024-12-11.
  7. ↑ "CDU und Dieselfahrverbote: Der Angriff auf die Umwelthilfe". 6 December 2018.
  8. ↑ Holger Appel: Rußmord. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . March 3, 2017, retrieved Dezember 11, 2018.
  9. ↑ Viehmann, Sebastian (12 January 2024). "„Diesel zurückdrängen": Umwelthilfe bot Gas-Verband für zwei Millionen Euro Kampagne an" [“Pushing back diesel": DUH offered gas association campaign for two million euros]. FOCUS online (in German). Berlin, Germany. Retrieved 2024-12-16.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.