Clean-Tech Law - Legal frameworks for transformative innovation and sustainable technology development
Technical innovations are indispensable for meeting the challenges of climate change, conserving natural resources, and building a sustainable economy. But how well is our legal system prepared to enable and promote this transformation?
The joint project Clean-Tech Law adresses this question. Funded by the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) and coordinated by the UFZ Department of Environmental and Planning Law at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, the project brings together nine doctoral research projects (PA) at eight German universities for the period 2026 to 2029. In this way, Clean-Tech Law combines cutting-edge research in environmental law with the goal of systematically analyzing and further developing the legal framework for clean technologies.
Objectives of Clean-Tech Law
At the core of the project lies the question of wether, and to what extent, existing law promote or hinder the development, testing, and market deployment of environmentally sustainable and resource-efficient technologies. Clean-Tech Law aims to identify legal obstacles and drivers for the development and commercialisation of innovative sustainability technologies, and to develop options for improving the regulatory framework. The project examines this tension across four thematic clusters:
(1) Cross-cutting legal and governance issues in technical sustainability solutions
PA1: Constitutional and European law requirements for innovation-open and sustainability-oriented technology regulation (Prof. Dr. Christian Calliess, Freie Universität Berlin)
PA2: Accelerating net-zero technologies (Prof. Dr. Sabine Schlacke, University of Greifswald)
(2) Material circular economy
PA3: Ecodesign regulation — implementation, effects, and legal issues of product standardization with regard to sustainable product design and recycling (Prof. Dr. Kurt Faßbender, University of Leipzig)
PA4: Recycling of plastic packaging — governance approaches between waste law and product law (Prof. Dr. Pascale Cancik, University of Osnabrück)
PA5: Promoting circular economy and resource efficiency in the lifecycle of energy transition technologies — Critical analysis of the legal framework and options for further development (Prof. Dr. Cathrin Zengerling, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg)
(3) Circular Water Economy
PA6: Innovation potential of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive for the circular water economy — governance, legality, and implementation within the framework of water law (Prof. Dr. Dr. Wolfgang Durner, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn)
PA7: From wastewater disposal to circular water economy — innovation potential, legal instruments, and policy options (Prof. Dr. Moritz Reese and PD Dr. Till Markus, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research — UFZ)
(4) CO₂ Circular Economy and Energy Cycles
PA8: What can climate law learn from waste and circular economy law? Opportunities and limits of a CO₂ circular economy (Prof. Dr. Claudio Franzius, University of Bremen)
PA9: Climate protection through international cooperation — the sustainability mechanism under Art. 6.4 of the Paris Agreement (Prof. Dr. Charlotte Kreuter-Kirchhof, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf)