The environmental associations Greenpeace and Deutsche Umwelthilfe want to sue the German carmaker and the energy supplier Wintershall for inadequate climate protection measures.
The managing directors of the associations wanted to submit civil law suits against BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen and Wintershall to the regional courts, the organizations said on Friday.
If necessary, complaints are made for violation of the protection of property, health and civil liberties. The claims are derived from the judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court on climate protection, which already forced the federal government to stricter requirements. The companies are given a deadline of a few weeks to respond to the demands of climate protectionists and avert the lawsuits with credible CO2 reduction paths.
Specifically, with reference to the requirements of the Paris Climate Protection Agreement, the associations are calling for internal combustion engines to be phased out by 2030, because the agreement results in a remaining CO2 emissions budget that must not be exceeded. For the implementation of the climate targets, however, the EU Commission has proposed 2035 as a deadline from which only emission-free new vehicles should be registered. Wintershall is to undertake not to develop any new oil and gas fields by 2026 at the latest - the supplier has promised CO2 neutrality by 2030.
The environmentalists see good chances for the legal action also because of a judgment in the Netherlands against the oil company Shell, which was obliged to reduce its CO2 emissions by 45 percent by 2030 compared to 2019.
The company is appealing the ruling.
Car companies are fighting back
As a first step, the plaintiffs sent letters of claim to the companies. It says that the current and planned measures of the corporations contradict the climate goals of Paris and are therefore illegal. "Despite increasing extreme weather events and contrary to scientific findings, the German automotive industry continues to sell millions of climate-damaging diesel and gasoline engines worldwide," the associations accused the carmakers of. The CO2 footprint of the most important German industry was thus greater in 2019 than that of the entire country.
"Civil law can and must prevent corporations from destroying our livelihoods and depriving our children and grandchildren of the right to a secure future," said Roda Verheyen, Greenpeace's lawyer.
DUH managing director Jürgen Resch stated that this should end the “predatory lobbyism” of the auto industry against climate protection.
BMW and Daimler referred to their plans to switch the range to electric cars and to reduce CO2 throughout production.
BMW once again committed itself to helping limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees.
"The BMW Group is a pioneer in the fight against climate change in the automotive industry."
Daimler stated that the company saw no basis for an injunction and would defend itself against a lawsuit with all legal means. “We are clearly committed to the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and thus to the decarbonisation of the automotive industry.” Volkswagen and Wintershall initially did not comment.