Environmental movement Greenpeace and a climate activist have filed a lawsuit against the Volkswagen Group. According to Greenpeace and activist Clara Mayer, Volkswagen is doing too little to combat emissions.
A similar lawsuit was filed earlier by environmental club Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) against Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler and BMW. Greenpeace and DUH are demanding that car manufacturers completely stop producing cars with combustion engines by 2030 and that greenhouse gas emissions are significantly reduced. The lawsuits are modeled after the case that was filed in the Netherlands against oil and gas group Shell. The court in The Hague stated that Shell must do more to reduce its emissions.
Volkswagen has previously said that filing lawsuits against individual companies is not an appropriate solution to the climate problem and that the group is committed to the Paris climate agreements. Volkswagen also pointed to the billions of investments it makes in electric cars. BMW and Daimler have also said they are committed to the Paris climate goals.
Earlier this week, Greenpeace released a ranking of global automakers based on their plans to phase out the combustion engine and the steps they are taking to make their production chain carbon neutral. Toyota came out on top there and Volkswagen was in eighth place of ‘worst’ manufacturers. That makes it even more striking that this new lawsuit is aimed at that group again. Earlier this year, Volkswagen was also the target of a major break-in by Greenpeace. Volkswagen’s diesel scandal may play a role in the strong attention that the group receives from Greenpeace.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl