In re Climate Resilience Bill

Summary:

On August 13, 2021, the Constitutional Council rejected a petition by parliamentarians to declare as unconstitutional a climate resilience bill, due to be passed in Autumn 2021. The parliamentarians alleged that law would deprive citizens of the constitutional right to live in a healthy and ecologically balanced environment by failing to enact strong enough provisions in time to meet carbon neutrality by 2050 goals. The Council set aside this challenge to the whole law on the grounds that the Council does not have the jurisdiction to hear challenges to the entire law, and that the parliamentarians did not challenge specific provisions in their inadequacy claims.

At Issue: Whether a climate resilience bill, due to be passed in Autumn 2021, was insufficient to protect constitutional rights.