By Victoria Waldersee
BERLIN (Reuters) -A court case against Mercedes-Benz by a German climate NGO, the first time individual citizens in Germany had sued a private company for exacerbating climate change, was dropped by the Stuttgart district court on Tuesday, the court said.
The NGO, Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), said it plans to appeal the ruling in the higher regional court of Stuttgart.
The case, which demanded that Mercedes-Benz adhere to a tighter carbon emissions budget and commit to ending production of combustion engine cars by November 2030, was based on a 2021 ruling https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/germany-must-further-tighten-climate-change-law-top-court-rules-2021-04-29/ in Germany’s top court that the country’s climate law was not doing enough to protect future generations.
The plaintiffs, three directors of the DUH, argued that their rights as individuals to be protected from the consequences of climate change were being infringed upon by Mercedes-Benz’ impact on the planet.
However, the court ruled that there was not yet tangible enough proof of how Mercedes-Benz’ production of combustion engine cars was impacting the rights of the plaintiffs.
Whether this could change in the future was as yet unclear, the court added in its statement.
Mercedes-Benz said it welcomed the ruling.
DUH has filed a similar lawsuit against BMW, with a court date scheduled for November. A case led by Greenpeace against Volkswagen on the same topic will be heard in court in May next year.
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee; editing by Rachel More and Jason Neely)
