News
12. April 2023
HFK Update: Also Hessen decides on its own state climate act - what does that mean for climate protection in municipal procurements?
On January 26, 2023, the Hessian State Parliament passed the first Hessian Climate Act (HKli-maG), which came into force on February 8, 2023. In this law, the state of Hesse undertakes to become climate-neutral by 2045 (Sections 3, 7 HKlimaG).
The path to this goal is to be achieved by means of the "Climate Plan for Hessen" which is to be drawn up by the state government and defines concrete interim targets and measures (Section 4 HKlimaG).
A key tool for reaching the climate neutrality goal will be the mandatory CO2 price to be taken into account in the context of procurements and investments by institutions of the state administration (Section 7 (4) HKlimaG).
For municipalities, municipal associations and municipal enterprises, on the other hand, the Hessian Act only requires a general consideration of environmental aspects, which is manifested in a political reminder function. According to this, municipalities only have to consider the climate "in some way" in their award decisions (cf. Secton 8 (1) HKlimaG; see also for the equivalent obligation under German federal law for institutions outside the federal administration Section 13 (1) sentences 1 and 2 Bundes-Klimaschutzgesetz (Federal Climate Protection Act)).
This is not a free pass for municipalities in terms of climate policy: On the one hand, various specialized laws also force municipal procurement to take climate protection into account, such as the Act on the Procurement of Clean Road Vehicles (SaubFahrzeugBeschG). On the other hand, the respective climate protection laws obligate the federal and state governments to support the municipalities in achieving their climate protection goals by providing advice and funding (§ 8 para. 2 HKlimaG). In the case of subsidized municipal projects, the respective subsidy provider (state or federal state) can therefore include compliance with the special climate protection requirement for procurements in the relevant ancillary subsidy provisions.
We will be pleased to advise you on how to implement climate protection in your municipal projects in a legally secure manner.
Your contact persons:
Attorney at law Dr. Jörg Stoye, Specialist lawyer for public procurement law, HFK Frankfurt (stoye@hfk.de)
Attorney at law Dr. Johannes M. Jäger, Europajurist (Univ. Würzburg), HFK Frankfurt (jaeger@hfk.de)