Joint Position Statement on the Federal Ministry of Transport’s Draft Bill for a Future Infrastructure Act

Abstract

With the Ministry of Federal Transport’s draft bill for a Future Infrastructure Act, German Federal Government is aiming to significantly speed up planning and approval procedures for infrastructure projects. Indeed, the draft contains some sensible proposals, such as the digitisation of procedures. Overall, however, it poses considerable risks to environmental, nature and climate protection. The UVP-Gesellschaft has been closely involved in drafting a joint position statement by several environmental and civil society organisations, thereby playing an active role in the ongoing legislative process. Among other things, the draft bill provides for far-reaching exemptions from the obligation to carry out environmental impact assessments, the reclassification of numerous projects as measures of ‘overriding public interest’, and the possibility of commencing construction prematurely, involving interventions in nature and the landscape that are, in some cases, irreversible. This would weaken key precautionary instruments and jeopardise legal and planning certainty. At the same time, the statement highlights that it is possible to speed up infrastructure projects without undermining environmental and nature conservation – for example, through digitalised procedures, early public participation and better support for implementing authorities.