Climate change law and the Austrian federal system

Abstract

Climate change is a challenge for society and the law. Whereas Austrian administrative law is slowly but increasingly establishing regulatory steps for both the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change, constitutional law in Austria seems to be silent on this subject. Since Austria is a federal state, the question arises whether the Land (the state) level or the federal level of government is competent to regulate climate change issues. In this paper, this question shall be answered. For that purpose, the Austrian federal system, especially the Bundesstaat (the federal state), and the distribution of competences will be explained. Then, the main challenges climate change poses for the federal system will be discussed. Special attention will be paid to the Austrian Climate Protection Act and its deficiencies.

Keywords

• austria
• constitutional law
• distribution of competences
• climate change law