Enlarge image
Farmer Ulf Allhoff-Cramer wants to appeal
Photo: Daniel Müller / Agency Focus
The Detmold district court has dismissed another climate lawsuit supported by Greenpeace against the car company Volkswagen.
The organic farmer Ulf Allhoff-Cramer had sued to stop the production of cars with combustion engines.
However, the competent court has now declared the lawsuit to be “entirely unfounded”.
As in a similar procedure in Braunschweig, Greenpeace announced that it would appeal.
(File number: 01 O 199/21).
Allhoff-Cramer sees his business threatened by climate change and blames VW for it.
He therefore calls for VW to produce fewer combustion engines with immediate effect and to stop production entirely from 2030.
The court did not explicitly contradict the alleged connection between Volkswagen's economic activity and global warming, but rejected the required measures.
It is basically up to the group "how to eliminate an impairment that has already occurred or how to prevent a seriously impending impairment".
It is not certain that the problem "can only be eliminated or prevented with the required measures".
"Bring VW now to the next instance"
Volkswagen welcomed the verdict.
“Climate lawsuits against individual companies that have been singled out are the wrong way to go and have no legal basis,” the group said.
Volkswagen is taking “unprecedented” measures to decarbonize the transport sector, but “cannot meet this challenge alone”.
It is incumbent on the legislature in particular to »shape climate protection with its far-reaching effects«.
The executive director of Greenpeace, Martin Kaiser, called the verdict "disappointing": "It leaves the fatal impression that the court does not deal with the detailed connection between VW's enormous CO₂ emissions and the damage already felt by the plaintiff today wanted.« Both in Detmold and in Braunschweig »we are now taking VW to the next instance«.
The district court in Braunschweig had also dismissed a similar lawsuit.
The plaintiffs relied on the climate judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court, which ruled in 2021 that future generations have a right to climate protection.
The court also left open whether Volkswagen could actually be held responsible for damage caused by climate change.
However, the group adheres to the provisions of the federal government's climate protection law.
koe/AFP