Status: 09.11.2021 12:50 p.m.
With the climate suit against VW, Greenpeace is breaking new legal ground. Other German manufacturers could soon have to justify their emissions in court. What are the chances of such lawsuits?
Is the automaker VW violating the rights of young people? Yes, says the environmental organization Greenpeace and today filed a lawsuit against the group at the Braunschweig Regional Court. The accusation: inadequate climate protection. With its “gigantic CO2 emissions”, the second largest car manufacturer in the world is making a significant contribution to the climate crisis and its consequences. The two managing directors Martin Kaiser and Roland Hipp and the Fridays-for-future activist Clara Mayer are suing for Greenpeace. Their freedom and property rights are threatened by Volkswagen’s business model.
Their central demands: VW should no longer bring vehicles with combustion engines onto the market by 2030 at the latest and reduce its CO2 emissions by at least 65 percent by then – compared to 2018. “Volkswagen is one with a CO2 footprint the size of Australia the biggest driver of the climate crisis, “said Greenpeace managing director Kaiser. The company’s business model is not compatible with the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.
Billions invested in electromobility
Volkswagen, on the other hand, sees it completely differently. The company was the first automobile manufacturer to clearly commit to the Paris climate agreement in 2018 and wants to be carbon-neutral in terms of balance sheet by 2050 at the latest – above all by switching from combustion to electric cars. VW wants to invest 35 billion euros in electromobility by 2025. Moving forward with climate protection is also a task for society as a whole; lawsuits in civil courts against individual companies are not the right way to go.
One thing is clear, however: it is a path that is increasingly being chosen by environmentalists. Lawyers speak of a new approach, a new strategy: Greenpeace and others are not only trying to enforce their demands on the political path, but increasingly on the legal one. “Now you have to see whether or not German law has the appropriate instruments in place,” explains court spokesman Stefan Bauer-Schade from the Braunschweig regional court.
Environmentalists successful with lawsuit against Shell
It is the first time that such a lawsuit has been brought before the regional court. Greenpeace also admits that the lawsuit is “new legal territory”. The environmentalists, however, see themselves strengthened primarily by two judgments from the past. This year the Federal Constitutional Court obliged the federal government to improve climate protection. And in the Netherlands, environmentalists reached a court action that the energy giant Shell had to become significantly more ambitious in terms of its climate goals.
For Greenpeace, the lawsuit against VW is now “the logical continuation of the Federal Constitutional Court’s climate share,” and it is also based on the judgment against Shell. Not only states, but also corporations would have to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in line with global climate targets. Deutsche Umwelthilfe, which wants to bring BMW and Mercedes to court, has a similar argument.
Distinguished lawyer
It is unclear, however, whether the Braunschweig Regional Court will follow the arguments of the environmentalists. Lawyers see a good chance that the lawsuit will be admitted in Braunschweig. But will the plaintiffs also succeed? Uncertain. In contrast to the Federal Constitutional Court, a regional court can be significantly less creative in its jurisdiction and significantly less develop the law. Because it must not only adhere to the Basic Law, but also to many detailed legal norms.
Greenpeace managing director Kaiser nevertheless sees himself well prepared for the legal dispute with the global corporation: “The chances are good.” Kaiser also draws his confidence from the fact that Greenpeace is represented in the matter by one of the most prominent environmental lawyers in the republic: Roda Verheyen from Hamburg. She is part of the team that successfully sued the federal government’s climate policy before the Federal Constitutional Court. At VW, people are relaxed: “We will examine the lawsuit and then decide how to proceed,” said a spokesman. Will there actually be a lawsuit against VW in the end? The Regional Court of Braunschweig will hardly decide that before the end of the year.