Young activists winning climate fights one court case at a time

The young activists of the Fridays For Future movement stand in front of the chancellery as they form a human chain during a protest against the government’s climate protection law in Berlin on May 12,2021. — AFP

WHATSAPP chat rooms and Telegram channels across Germany lit up in the early hours of April 29. Young people frantically exchanged messages in a tone that went from disbelief to surprise to euphoria.

The country’s highest court had just ruled that the government’s 2019 climate law was incompatible with fundamental rights, a victory for the nine young German activists that filed the lawsuit and for the global youth climate movement.