DFG Research Unit “Transformative Climate Law: Space – Time – Society” Approved
The German Research Foundation (DFG) will support the Transformative Climate Law: Space – Time – Society research unit with four million euros over the next four years. The unit will be coordinated at the University of Bremen.
Through this research group, spokespersons Prof. Dr. Claudio Franzius (Bremen) and Prof. Dr. Sabine Schlacke (Greifswald) aim to identify pathways to achieving climate neutrality. This will require transforming the economy and society through law. “The central premise of the research project is that the transformation process initiated by the law also changes the law itself, thereby altering its underlying assumptions and modes of thinking,” says Franzius, a professor of public law at the University of Bremen. In addition to researchers from the universities of Bremen and Greifswald, the research group includes scholars from the universities of Bochum, Bonn, and Freiburg, as well as the Technical University of Darmstadt and the Helmut Schmidt University/University of the Federal Armed Forces in Hamburg.
The researchers come from a wide range of academic disciplines, including law, political science, and economics. In line with the research group’s title, the researchers are examining transformative climate law within the categories Space, Time, and Society. In the Space subprojects, the researchers examine how global climate goals, such as those of the Paris Agreement, can be implemented by local and federal actors globally, in Europe, and in Germany. This involves addressing the challenges that German federalism poses to the implementation of climate goals.
The Space subprojects also examine the role of law in climate and resource policy at the European and national levels. The researchers address how European climate protection law shifts ecological and social costs onto future generations and the Global South in its pursuit of decarbonization. They also examine the German Climate Protection Act, demonstrating how it functions as a “hinge” between abstract climate goals and concrete measures. A related question is the extent to which it should be understood as a legal layer between the constitution and ordinary law.
The Society subprojects focus on carbon capture technologies, i.e., methods for removing CO2 from the air. These technologies are currently in the early stages of development. The researchers are examining how climate law can support the rapid adoption of these technologies and how the technologies are shaping the law. They are examining the social tensions that the transition to climate neutrality may entail, which includes analyzing the concept of a “just transition” and exploring its potential role in climate law.
Wissenschaftlicher Ansprechpartner:
Prof. Dr. Claudio Franzius
Professor of Public Law, specializing in Administrative and Environmental Law
Faculty of Law
University of Bremen
Phone: +49 (0) 421 218 – 66005
Email: franzius@uni-bremen.de
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