German court rejects climate lawsuits against BMW and Mercedes-Benz
The Facts
- Germany's Federal Court of Justice ruled on climate lawsuits filed by Deutsche Umwelthilfe against BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
- The lawsuits sought to stop BMW and Mercedes-Benz from selling new cars with combustion engines after November 2030.
- The court rejected the lawsuits and returned the matter to the lower-court outcome, with the DUH's appeals dismissed.
- The case had already failed in earlier proceedings in Munich and Stuttgart before reaching the Federal Court of Justice.
- DUH argued that the automakers' emissions would use too much of the global and national CO2 budget and could force more restrictive climate measures later.
- The legal argument relied in part on Germany's Constitutional Court's 2021 climate ruling, which said the state had a duty to protect future generations from climate change.
- The central legal question was whether companies can be required by civil courts to take climate measures even without a specific state rule ordering them to do so.
Context
What did Deutsche Umwelthilfe want the court to order?
DUH wanted BMW and Mercedes-Benz barred from selling new combustion-engine cars after November 2030 T-online.de,tagesschau.de,Frankfurter Allgeme….
Why did DUH say the automakers should be restricted?
The group argued that continued sales of combustion-engine cars would consume too much of the CO2 budget and make later climate action more severe, limiting freedom in the future N-tv,DIE WELT,Deutschlandfunk.
Why was this case considered significant?
It tested whether civil courts can impose climate-related obligations on private companies, not just on governments through legislation Der Tagesspiegel,taz.de,Deutschlandfunk.
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