Environmental Duties and Liability in the Constitution of the Czech Republic – Environmental Constitutionalism in the Anthropocene

Abstract

This article examines how the Czech constitutional order regulates environmental protection and liability in the Anthropocene, with a particular focus on future generations and climate litigation. It shows that the Constitution and the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms provide only a fragmented, anthropocentric framework. Art. 7 of the former and Art. 35 of the latter recognise environmental interests and the right to a favourable environment but do not establish an explicit, general duty on everyone to protect the environment, nor a clear constitutional mandate to safeguard future generations. Environmental duties and the polluter pays principle are therefore largely operationalised at sub-constitutional level through the Environment Act, sectoral legislation and multi‑layered regimes of administrative, civil, criminal and ecological‑damage liability, which strongly constrain private actors while leaving state liability comparatively underdeveloped. The analysis traces how courts have gradually expanded standing for individuals, communities and NGOs, and how they invoke intergenerational interests in selected contexts (such as the Soutok case) yet remain cautious when asked to enforce positive climate obligations. The first Czech climate lawsuit is used to illustrate both the potential and limits of climate litigation. Against this backdrop, this article identifies scattered statutory references to future generations and evaluates institutional options ranging from a stronger role for the ombudsman to an expanded mandate for the children’s ombudsman. It concludes with de lege ferenda proposals, including an explicit constitutional duty to protect the environment, clearer climate‑ and biodiversity‑related objectives, and a clause steering the economic order towards sustainable, ecologically oriented development.