Environmentalists from the German Environmental Aid (DUH) want to force the carmaker Mercedes to stop selling cars with combustion engines from October 2030. And for the time until then, the Swabians should be set limits. 516 million tons of CO₂ – that’s how much remaining budget the environmental aid calculated for new Mercedes vehicles. Once that is used up, diesel and petrol engines must be put to an end.
But is it really conceivable that a German court would tell a company when it could put its last combustion engine car on the road? The Stuttgart district court dealt with this question for the first time on Tuesday. And there Judge Bernd Rzymann at least gave a hint: He doesn’t think the environmentalists’ arguments are completely absurd. However, it is questionable whether that will be enough to force Mercedes to be the first company to stop combustion engines, and whether a German court can even decide that.
Room 155 is not only stuffy, but also quite cramped for the 30 or so listeners, most of whom are media representatives, but a few students are also watching the process. Because you sit knee to back here in four tightly seated rows, the judge exceptionally ordered a mask requirement for everyone in the room. In this respect, the environmentalists have already achieved one thing: The process, which lasts just one hour including an intermission, attracts the attention the plaintiffs were hoping for. At the latest since the environmental aid organization fought for diesel driving bans in court in individual cities, no one in the German car industry should dismiss a lawsuit against the association as a mere show.
There is a shaking of heads at Mercedes
Even if this time it’s about something even bigger: The environmental aid would like to oblige Mercedes by court to ban the sale of combustion engines earlier than the law previously stipulated. The DUH is also conducting such a lawsuit against BMW; the environmentalists from Greenpeace have taken on the VW group in a similar way. In the EU, however, no new cars with petrol or diesel engines will be allowed to be sold until 2035, and some countries are already planning to phase out combustion engines a little earlier. In Germany, politicians have not yet set an end date.
There was a lot of shaking of heads at the Stuttgart car manufacturer in September last year when environmental aid announced the lawsuit. The position of the Swabians: By 2030 they only want to sell purely electric vehicles anyway – exactly what the DUH is now demanding in court. With this goal, the Stuttgart-based company is actually more research-oriented than, for example, BMW, which is very reluctant to give specific figures. However, Mercedes also put a small footnote after its announcement – “wherever market conditions allow.” The automaker leaves a small back door open after all. “That’s not enough,” say the environmentalists and call for a binding exit date. The Mercedes lawyers only made a brief statement in court, in which they spoke of “vague allegations”, “insinuations” and “conjectures” in relation to the plaintiffs. Again the tenor was: Mercedes does more than the legislator requires.
Judge Bernd Rzymann found at least that the complaint of the DUH is admissible. “That alone is sensational,” says Environmental Aid Managing Director Jürgen Resch. Nevertheless, Rzymann emphasized several times in his opening statement that it would be quite difficult to decide on the application for injunctive relief. Because what threats to fundamental rights threaten for each individual citizen, for example if the car manufacturer is still selling combustion engines after 2030, that is all very abstract. But it is also clear: “If too much is emitted, this means that the legislature must take action.” Then he would also take measures that restrict freedom. It is not yet possible to name them specifically – but it is not unreasonable to argue the way environmental aid does. But there is still one problem: emissions will continue to exist, only: who is allowed, how much and for how long? There are national targets for sectors, but not individual companies. So, after 2030, is Mercedes no longer allowed to sell a petrol engine, but another manufacturer or a company from another industry is, because they were not sued?
A proclamation date at the Stuttgart district court is scheduled for September 13th. However, that does not mean that there will be a verdict. It is also conceivable, for example, that the judge will refer the proceedings to another instance. Perhaps even the European Court of Justice will decide whether environmentalists can force a car company to stop using combustion engines.