8:39 am, February 15, 2023
A case against Volkswagen led by Greenpeace that urged the manufacturer to stiffen its carbon emissions targets has been dismissed by a German regional court.
But the campaigners, comprising two heads of Greenpeace Germany and the environmental activist Clara Mayer, have vowed to appeal against the ruling.
They had argued that VW was contravening their fundamental freedoms because of its effect on climate change, according to a Reuters report.
In a statement after the hearing, plaintiff Roland Hipp said: ‘The last word on our climate lawsuits against Volkswagen was not spoken today.
‘We are planning further legal steps and are confident that we can persuade Volkswagen to do more on climate protection by legal means.’
Volkswagen said it welcomed the court’s ruling and repeated its earlier argument that civil lawsuits against individual firms weren’t the correct way to determine climate-change action.
It faces another German hearing on February 24 – this time a lawsuit by a farmer, who is also being helped by Greenpeace, who claims that VW’s emissions are wrecking his land and posing a threat to his livelihood.
Last year, Volkswagen agreed to pay £193m to more than 90,000 UK vehicle owners after it settled a group claim for damages in the wake of the emissions-testing revelations that began in 2015.
In an April 2020 High Court ruling against VW, Mr Justice Waksman said ‘the software function in issue in this case is indeed a defeat device’.
Car owners’ lawyers had argued that Volkswagen ‘cheated’ European emissions standards, which were designed ‘to save lives’, by installing unlawful ‘defeat devices’ in its diesel vehicles.
But the multi-million-pound out-of-court settlement was subsequently reached with no admissions being made by the car manufacturer about liability, causation or loss.
Last week, fellow German car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz appeared before the High Court for the first time over emissions scandal claims.
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