Court gives Greenpeace little chance against Volkswagen

Greenpeace filed a lawsuit against the Volkswagen Group at the end of 2021. It is argued that Volkswagen violates fundamental rights by still marketing polluting cars and demands that the car manufacturer stop doing so in 2030. The company should also have reduced CO2 emissions by 65 percent compared to 2018. The environmental organization relies on a ruling from May 2020 that Germany violates the rights of future generations by not doing more to combat climate change. The lawsuit against Shell won by Milieudefensie was also cited by Greenpeace.

The case can continue, but it is unlikely that the environmental organization will win the case. This is what a spokesman for the court in Braunschweig says. According to the spokesperson, it is unlikely that the strategy described above will lead to results. “Fundamental rights apply between citizens and the state. The remarkable thing here is that private individuals address a private company about violation of fundamental rights. The case will probably not succeed.”

In addition, an earlier case by the environmental organization Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) against Mercedes-Benz was rejected by the court in Stuttgart. The judges there said it was not clear how Mercedes-Benz had infringed citizens’ rights. DUH appealed. DUH also has a case against BMW. It will be treated in Munich at the beginning of February.

Greenpeace may have targeted the Volkswagen Group specifically because of the diesel scandal. The Volkswagen Group has already pointed out in response to a previous lawsuit that filing lawsuits against individual companies is not an appropriate solution to the climate problem and that it is committed to the Paris climate agreements. It also emphasized the investments it is making in electric driving. The Volkswagen brand also wants to sell only electric cars in Europe by 2033. This means that it is ahead of the EU requirement that car manufacturers may only sell emission-free cars here in 2035.