Inspired by an earlier judgment against Shell in the Netherlands, German environmental activists want to force companies to reduce their CO . through the courts2to reduce emissions.
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Top executives of the German environmental organization Deutsche Umwelthilfe have taken BMW and Mercedes-Benz to court to force the carmakers to cut CO2 emissions.2to ‘drasically’ reduce emissions from their fleet and bring them into line with the German climate law and the Paris agreement. The complaints were lodged Monday in the competent courts of Munich, where BMW is located, and Stuttgart, where Daimler subsidiary Mercedes-Benz is located.
It is the first time in Germany that citizens are suing companies for their role in climate change – although Greenpeace is now working on a similar complaint against Volkswagen. The environmental activists of Deutsche Umwelthilfe rely on a ruling by the German constitutional court, which ruled earlier this year that the government must further tighten its 2019 climate law to better protect the rights of future generations. “The Constitutional Court ruling means that we have a fundamental right to climate protection,” said Remo Klinger, who is a lawyer representing environmental activists. “It is not only the government that must respect this fundamental right, it must also be respected by large companies.”
Especially if those companies, such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz, ’emit more than entire industrialized countries’, says Klinger in a press release. According to him, BMW was responsible for the emission of 93.8 million tons of CO . in 2019.2 – more than a country like Austria or Greece – and Mercedes-Benz’s emissions were even 118.5 million tons.
That a Dutch judge recently oil giant Shell has obliged to green more quickly, encourages German environmental activists to go to court.
Deadline 2030
The members of Deutsche Umwelthilfe had asked BMW and Mercedes-Benz to sign a binding statement by Monday that, among other things, they would stop selling cars with an internal combustion engine by 2030. But both companies rejected that.
BMW, which aims to get half of its sales from electric cars by 2030, says it is already a climate frontrunner in the sector and that it respects the Paris targets. Moreover, according to the car manufacturer, it is up to ‘democratically legitimized parliaments’ to decide on the path to achieving the climate goals, he says in a reply to the environmental organization. Daimler says it sees no basis for the lawsuit and that it “has long formulated a clear statement for a change of course towards climate neutrality.”
Should a judge decide otherwise, the boardrooms of other companies will also shake to their foundations.
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