IS CLIMATE EMERGENCY A CONSTITUTIONAL EMERGENCY? COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EMERGENCY/DEROGATION FRAMEWORKS IN INDIA, FRANCE AND GERMANY

AUTHOR – HIMANSHU KUMAR, STUDENT AT ICFAI UNIVERSITY, DEHRADUN

BEST CITATION – HIMANSHU KUMAR, IS CLIMATE EMERGENCY A CONSTITUTIONAL EMERGENCY? COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EMERGENCY/DEROGATION FRAMEWORKS IN INDIA, FRANCE AND GERMANY, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (7) OF 2026, PG. 438-454, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344. DOI – https://doi.org/10.65393/IJLRV6I748

Abstract

Climate change represents one of the most pressing challenges of the twenty- rst century, yet its legal status remains ambiguous across constitutional systems. This research paper examines whether climate change can be characterized as a “constitutional emergency” requiring extraordinary governmental powers under the emergency/derogation frameworks of three distinct constitutional democracies: India, France, and Germany.

Through comparative constitutional analysis, the paper argues that while climate change qualies as a crisis of constitutional magnitude, it does not t within traditional de nitions of constitutional emergency that presume temporariness, immediacy, and exceptionality. The paper analyzes the constitutional emergency mechanisms in each jurisdiction—India’s Article 356 (President’s Rule), France’s Articles 16 and 36 (Presidential Emergency Powers and State of Siege), and Germany’s Articles 115a-115g (Emergency Acts)—and traces how each nation’s constitutional courts have begun recognizing climate protection as a fundamental right. The paper concludes that climate emergency requires a new constitutional framework that operates within the bounds of ordinary constitutionalism rather than derogation models designed for temporary crises. The emerging judicial consensus in India (M.K. Ranjitsinh, 2024), Germany (Neubauer, 2021), and France re ects a shift toward constitutionalizing climate as an ordinary constitutional obligation with intergenerational dimensions, rather than treating it as an exceptional threat triggering derogation powers.

Keywords: Climate Emergency, Constitutional Law, Emergency Powers, Derogation, Comparative Constitutionalism, India, France, Germany, Fundamental Rights, Intergenerational Justice