To date, no climate lawsuit has been filed in Hungary against the country or its main emitters, although there has been one According to the study abstract published in Mašálfofok On the basis of the sectoral rules, the Hungarian state can indeed be sued successfully.
More than a thousand climate lawsuits have already been filed in Western Europe and the United States. Claims increased after the Paris agreement. In this agreement, countries made a legally binding commitment to keep climate change below 2°C, with a target of 1.5°C. The climate agreement has shortcomings, but since those countries that have accepted the agreement are also bound to be held responsible for its implementation in court. According to Bella Koslets, who wrote the article, success can also be achieved through a process that is started creatively. Another key to success may be that not only is the scientific evidence of climate change increasing, but the consequences can also be experienced on a daily basis, and that makes it easier to prove.
A common criticism of climate laws is that they will practically pass on the problems of the present to the next generation, while the constitutions of many countries, including Hungary, provide for the principle of intergenerational justice. For this reason, the majority of climate lawsuits are conducted on human rights grounds. Another reason is that these actions are carried out on the basis of the basic law, because a systematic climate law does not currently exist – and this is not only due to the inadequacy of the framework law.
Although the Hungarian climate law is also before the Constitutional Court, due to the separation of powers the body cannot impose a stronger climate law than Parliament, but at the same time may play a major role in setting the tone for future lawsuits and legislation related to climate change.
Much depends on the judges as well, and it is their responsibility to see how courageously and concretely they have dared to connect knowledge of climate science with legal arguments, whether they can say that, for example,
- Is there no other way to achieve the promised carbon neutrality by 2050 than with the ambition of early action, because for future generations the solution would not only be a disproportionate burden, but an impossible challenge?
- For example, does “impossible” have the same meaning for law as “extremely improbable” for science?
In the absence of a unified climate law, in addition to the basic legal claims, the Hungarian state can be sued successfully primarily on the basis of sectoral rules (expenditure of energy efficiency subsidies, decisions of the Environmental Protection Authority, competition law, investment protection, obligation to implement strategies). Because, in addition to courageous, creative, and committed lawyers and judges, we will need first and foremost as many litigation cases as possible in order to create our nation’s first successful climate litigation that prioritizes environmental and climate protection as well as aspects of future generation.
