The association wanted to go to court to prevent car manufacturers Mercedes and BMW from selling new cars with combustion engines after November 2030. The lawsuits were unsuccessful in the lower courts in Munich and Stuttgart. Now he pointed BGH as a last resort the revisions of the YOU H back.

BMW will be allowed to continue selling gasoline and diesel engines after 2030

The focus of the proceedings was the question of whether companies can be required to take certain climate measures in civil courts, even outside of state regulations. In their lawsuit, three managing directors of Umwelthilfe invoked their general personal rights enshrined in the Basic Law.

DUH federal manager Barbara Metz announced that the BGH ruling would be examined and a decision would then be made as to whether the association would go to the Federal Constitutional Court.

Federal Constitutional Court ruling as a basis for the lawsuit

As a result of that BMW and Mercedes Using up too much of the global and national carbon budget would limit policy space, they said. Far-reaching measures to reduce CO2 would later be necessary, which in turn would restrict their freedoms. The argument was based on the famous climate protection decision of the Federal Constitutional Court from 2021.

Germany’s highest court decided in March 2021 that the federal climate protection law in its former form fell short and called for improvements from the legislature. It was said that the plaintiffs, some of whom were still very young, had their freedoms violated by the regulations. Because: “The regulations irreversibly postpone high emissions reduction burdens to periods after 2030.”

Climate goals in the plenary hall, not the courtroom

While at the time it was about an obligation on the part of the state, the BGH was now concerned with whether major emitters such as BMW and Mercedes could also be held accountable in court. After the hearing three weeks ago, Mercedes declared that legal requirements for climate targets were the responsibility of the legislature, not the judiciary. A BMW spokesman also emphasized: The debate about how to achieve the climate goals must be conducted in the plenary hall, not in the courtroom.

The sixth civil senate of the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe made a similar statement. Private individuals would not be able to enforce the claims raised against motor vehicle manufacturers. The presiding judge Stephan Seiters said that their general personal rights were not impaired by the companies’ actions.

The requirement for a remaining budget for permitted CO2 emissions currently applies throughout Germany and does not apply to individual federal states, the transport sector or even individual companies. Regulating that would be a matter for politicians, said Seiters. Responsibility for climate protection lies with the legislature. A constitutional complaint could then be lodged against excessively high levels of CO2 emissions.

German environmental aid offered a lobby campaign in exchange for money

The fact that the DUH can bring such lawsuits is due to the right of collective action, which is granted to certain NGOs (non-governmental organizations) in Germany. The DUH is officially recognized as a non-profit organization. However, there are always doubts about this classification. So the club had a gas lobby association offered a two million euro campaignin order to “pull back diesel engines” and instead make natural gas taxis appear in a positive light. The DUH has become known, among other things, for its warnings to dealers for violations of labeling requirements as well as the partially successful lawsuits against diesel driving bans in several German cities.