The precautionary principle was developed by the German Greens in the 1970s.

Judge as of September 2023. True: historical sources show the precautionary principle was developed by the German Green Party in the 1970s. Mostly true: it originated in 1970s West German environmental policy (Vorsorgeprinzip) with the Greens closely involved, or a date detail is slightly off. Mostly false: it originated in 1970s West German environmental policy (Vorsorgeprinzip), but in government/legal circles rather than by the Green Party (founded 1980), so the attribution distorts a real origin. False: the principle neither originated in Germany nor in the 1970s.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 The Precautionary Principle; 2005 - Centers for Disease ... World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST), UNESCO · 2005

   “The PP, however, dates from the 1970s. Some scholars mention a Swedish and some a German origin of the PP.”

2. E2 The Precautionary Principle; 2005 - Centers for Disease ... World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST), UNESCO · 2005

   “In Germany the PP ('Vorsorgeprinzip') may be traced back to the fi rst draft of a bill (1970) aimed at securing clean air.”

3. E3 Deutscher Bundestag Deutscher Bundestag, 8. Wahlperiode, Drucksache 8/3713 (Antwort der Bundesregierung) · 27 February 1980

   “vor allem dem Gesichtspunkt des vorbeugenden Umweltschutzes.”

The UNESCO COMEST report dates the precautionary principle to the 1970s and says scholars trace it to Sweden or Germany (E1). It traces the German form, the 'Vorsorgeprinzip', to the first draft of a 1970 clean-air bill, which is a legislative or government origin, not a party one (E2). A 1980 federal government answer to the Bundestag also uses the language of preventive environmental protection (E3). The 1970s West German origin is real, but the evidence places it in government and legal circles rather than with the German Greens, which matches the criteria for "mostly false".