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The claimants had given Volkswagen eight weeks to consider their demands, which included ending production of internal combustion engine cars by 2030 and reducing carbon emissions by at least 65% from 2018 levels by then, before filing the suit.
Volkswagen did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company had said that it did not view suing individual firms as an adequate solution for tackling a society-wide issue.
“Volkswagen already committed clearly to the Paris Climate Agreement in 2018 and has the most ambitious electrification strategy, investing 35 billion euros in electromobility by 2025,” a spokesperson said in September when Greenpeace made its demands.
A similar lawsuit was filed in late September by the heads of German environmental organisation Deutsche Umwelthilfe against BMW and Daimler (OTC:DDAIF), when both companies also rejected demands to end production of fossil fuel-based cars by 2030 and limit CO2 emissions before then.
The lawsuits draw on two prior climate-related cases: a German ruling in May 2020 that the country was failing to protect future generations from the consequences of climate change, and a Dutch ruling the same month ordering oil firm Shell (LON:RDSa) to reduce its emissions, the first time a private company was held responsible for its impact on the climate.
