A lawsuit by environmental campaigners under the aegis of Environmental Action Germany, seeking to force automaker BMW to stop selling vehicles with combustion engines by 2030 has been rejected by a German court on Tuesday.
The group argued that manufacturers such as BMW pose a threat to people’s right to property, health and life if they continue making vehicles that produce greenhouse gas emissions.
However, the Munich regional court ruled that “at present, there is no threat of illegal encroachment” of their rights although the plaintiffs’ arguments couldn’t be dismissed from the outset.
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Judges noted that German and European lawmakers, spurred partly by a 2021 ruling by Germany’s top court, have taken numerous measures to achieve the goals of the 2015 Paris climate accord. As such there was no absence of laws that would warrant civil action against BMW “at last not at this time,” they said.
The Munich-based automaker said efforts to cut emissions should be determined by democratically elected parliaments, not in the courts as it welcomed the ruling.
Meanwhile, the group has said it was satisfied the court had recognized the permissibility of their lawsuit in principle and will appeal the ruling.
The group said vehicles sold by BMW in 2021 were responsible for more emissions of planet-heating carbon dioxide than countries such as Finland or Portugal produce in a year.
Story was adapted from AP.
