Die Kausalität weder notwendiger noch hinreichender Bedingungen

Both the US and the UK Supreme Court have recently recognized unnecessary and insufficient contributions as causes. Yet the topic is rarely addressed in German scholarship. This is particularly surprising, given that this issue underpins the ongoing debate on climate change liability. In search of a rationale to decide cases involving unnecessary and insufficient contributions, this paper discusses the NESS test and, drawing on philosophical research, presents a modified but-for test based on the notion of minimal necessity. The latter correctly transposes the tortious aspect doctrine to overdetermination scenarios and offers a unified concept of causation in tort law, which allows for a nuanced reevaluation of greenhouse gas emissions.