BERLIN (GERMANY) February 3, 2006 -- Following a key legal challenge to the secrecy of the German Economics Ministry, the climate change impacts of German export credits will soon have to be disclosed. The legal challenge was brought by campaign groups Germanwatch and BUND/Friends of the Earth, Germany.

In an important judgment which forms part of the settlement of the case on 31st January 2006, Judge Gaudernack at the Berlin Administrative Court rejected both the German government’s two arguments - that its export credit activities were not subject to European environmental information laws, and that these credits did not affect climate change and the environment. Through its agency Euler Hermes AG, German export credits provide financial support for projects overseas that contribute to climate change, such as coal power plants and mining.

The environmental groups’ request for a list and details of energy production projects supported by the German taxpayer was rejected by the Economics Ministry in August 2003. Legal proceedings began in June 2004 with the support of the international and collaborative Climate Justice Programme.

Read the Order of the Berlin Administrative Court (Beschluss)

Read an unofficial translation by the Climate Justice Programme

Read more background information

Read the press release from the Climate Justice Programme