German court to rule in climate case against automakers

Germany’s Federal Court of Justice is due to rule on Monday on a landmark climate case brought by environmentalists against auto giants BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Activists from the group Environmental Action Germany (DUH) believe that car manufacturers should be forced to stop selling cars with combustion engines after 2030.

The case builds on a landmark 2021 ruling by the German Constitutional Court that the state has a duty to protect future generations from the effects of climate change and seeks to apply this principle to businesses.

The European Union had initially planned to phase out cars running on fossil fuels by 2035, but it relaxed those rules late last year following intense lobbying from automakers to allow some sales to continue.

DUH activists Barbara Metz, Sascha Mueller-Kraenner and Juergen Resch claim that continued sales of cars with combustion engines after 2030 would constitute a violation of the Basic Law or the German Constitution.

“Companies must manage their business models in a way that is consistent with a future worth living for all,” Resch said last year.

“We have the 2021 ruling of the Constitutional Court on climate protection which specifically states that failure to take sufficient measures to protect the climate constitutes a violation of fundamental rights,” the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Remo Klinger, told AFP.

“This is the first time that such an argument has been brought before the Federal Court of Justice.”

– “The legislator, not the courts” –

A key question in the case is whether auto giants could be forced to stop selling polluting cars without the government directly legislating on the issue.

In a statement, BMW told AFP that “the debate on how to achieve climate goals must take place within the political process through democratically elected parliaments.”

Mercedes-Benz agreed, saying that “legislators, not the courts,” should decide on specific climate goals.

This legal action is part of a broader trend of activists turning to the legal system to enforce climate action.

Activists celebrated last May after a regional court in northern Germany ruled that companies could in principle be sued for the consequences of their emissions.

However, the court did not award damages to a Peruvian farmer, Saul Luciano Lliuya, who filed a lawsuit against the utility company RWE.

The case against the carmakers was appealed to the Federal Court of Justice after lower courts in Stuttgart and Munich ruled in favor of the companies, finding that they had complied with existing regulations.

German carmakers have invested billions in the transition to electric and hybrid vehicles to meet EU climate goals.

But progress has been slowed by weaker-than-expected demand, with many consumers put off by higher upfront costs and still-spotty charging infrastructure.

Speaking earlier this month, Barbara Metz said the plaintiffs would consider appealing to the Constitutional Court if Monday’s ruling went against them.

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