Overview

• Judges declared the plan-approval decision for the first section unlawful and non-executable, allowing defects to be remedied rather than annulling it outright.
• The court found a breach of §13 of the Federal Climate Protection Act, saying planners failed to assess route options against national climate goals, including land-use impacts.
• The selected Süd 1 alignment would take 18.5 hectares of high-quality peat soils, while the Süd 2 alternative could be shorter, cheaper, and avoid peatlands.
• The case (BVerwG 9 A 2.24) concerns one of three sections of the roughly 9.7-kilometer link intended to connect the A7 and A1 and improve access to the Port of Hamburg.
• A separate lawsuit by an oil refinery operator over a high-voltage line relocation was dismissed as unfounded.