German Court Dismisses Greenpeace-Led Climate Case Against VW; Plaintiffs to Appeal

A regional court in Germany has dismissed a case led by Greenpeace against Volkswagen calling on the carmaker to tighten its carbon emissions targets, the company and the climate group said in separate statements on Tuesday.

The three plaintiffs – two heads of Greenpeace Germany and environmental activist Clara Mayer – argued that the carmaker was violating their fundamental freedoms via its impact on climate change.

“The last word on our climate lawsuits against Volkswagen was not spoken today,” Roland Hipp, one of the plaintiffs, said in a statement. “We are planning further legal steps and are confident that we can persuade Volkswagen to do more on climate protection by legal means.”

Volkswagen welcomed the decision, repeating its previous argument that civil lawsuits against individual companies were not the right way to determine action on climate change.

The carmaker will face another hearing on February 24 in Detmold, Germany in a lawsuit by a farmer, also supported by Greenpeace, who argues that the carmaker’s emissions are ruining his land and threatening his livelihood.

(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee; editing by Matthias Williams)

Photograph: In this April 27, 2020 file photo, the Volkswagen logo stands on the top of a VW headquarters building in Wolfsburg, Germany. (Swen Pfoertner/dpa via AP)