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Greenpeace is suing Volkswagen for fueling the climate crisis and violating future freedom and property rights

Braunschweig, Germany - Greenpeace Germany has lawsuit filed against Volkswagen (VW) today, the world's second largest automaker, for failing to decarbonise the company in line with the 1,5 ° C target agreed in Paris. At the end of October, VW refused the legal requirement of Greenpeace reduce its CO2 emissions faster and retire vehicles with combustion engines by 2030 at the latest.

Martin Kaiser, Managing Director of Greenpeace Germany, said: “The negotiations at COP26 in Glasgow show that the 1,5 degree target is at stake and can only be achieved with a courageous change of course in politics and business. But while people are suffering from the floods and droughts caused by the climate crisis, CO2 emissions from transport continue to rise. Car companies like Volkswagen have to take responsibility and act much faster in order to phase out the polluting internal combustion engine and decarbonise their activities without further delay. "

The plaintiffs, including the Fridays for Future activist Clara Mayer, are making civil liability claims for the protection of their personal freedoms, their health and their property rights before the Regional Court of Braunschweig, based on the Dutch court case against Shell in May 2021. who decided that big corporations have their own climate responsibility and instructed Shell and all of its subsidiaries to do more to protect the climate. Greenpeace Germany also supports another lawsuit brought by an organic farmer against VW for the same reasons.

By holding Volkswagen accountable for the consequences of its climate-damaging business model, Greenpeace Germany is enforcing the landmark Karlsruhe constitutional court ruling of April 2021, in which the judges ruled that future generations have a fundamental right to climate protection. Large companies are also bound by this requirement.

At the beginning of December, the VW supervisory board will set the course for investments over the next five years. Despite legal requirements on climate protection, the company's development plan allegedly provides for the production of a new generation of climate-damaging internal combustion engines, which the car manufacturer apparently wants to sell by at least 2040. [1]

Volkswagen has so far failed to limit the global temperature increase to 1,5 degrees, according to the plaintiffs. Based on the 1,5-degree scenario of the International Energy Agency (IEA), in order to fulfill the obligations of the Paris Agreement and to contribute to climate protection, the company aims to reduce its CO2 emissions by at least 2030 percent by 65 (compared to 2018), internal combustion engines should only make up a quarter of all VW cars sold and will be phased out completely by 2030 at the latest. [2]

If the lawsuit is successful, so Greenpeace Germany it will lead to emissions reductions of over two gigatons of CO2 compared to Volkswagen's current planswhich is more than double the annual global aviation emissions. [3]

Here is an English translation of the summary of the lawsuit against Volkswagen dated November 09.11.2021, 6 (120 pages). The full lawsuit in German (XNUMX pages) can be found here Here

[1] https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/vw-eyes-phase-out-combustion-engines-says-it-will-sell-conventional-cars-2040s

[2] https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050

[3] According to a. at 2019 Gt Report of the International Council on Clean Transportation.

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Photos: Greenpeace

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Option is an idealistic, fully independent and global social media platform on sustainability and civil society, founded in 2014 by Helmut Melzer. Together we show positive alternatives in all areas and support meaningful innovations and forward-looking ideas - constructive-critical, optimistic, down to earth. The option community is dedicated exclusively to relevant news and documents the significant progress made by our society.

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