Cease and desist letter (prior to claim). 

On October 4, 2021, the plaintiffs Barbara Metz, Sascha Müller-Kraenner, and Jürgen Resch supported by environmental organization Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH; Environmental Action Germany), filed an action against Wintershall Dea AG, a German gas and oil company. Plaintiffs asked the Regional Court of Kassel to order the company to tighten its carbon emissions target and to cease the extraction of natural gas and crude oil both nationally and internationally, both directly or indirectly (through shareholding or other means of corporate participation), by 2025. 

The plaintiffs argue that the company’s (in)actions are causally responsible for interfering with and in violation of plaintiffs’ rights and freedoms by not adhering to a “fair” carbon budget. In <a href="https://climatecasechart.com/non-us-case/neubauer-et-al-v-germany/">Neubauer v. Germany</a>, the German Constitutional Court accepted that Germany has a limited CO2 emissions budget remaining at its disposal. Alongside the Paris Agreement, these findings form the legal basis for the claim by Metz et al. 

On the basis of the company’s calculated allocated carbon budget, plaintiffs submit that the company be asked to refrain from: (i) extracting natural gas and/or crude oil that emits more than 0.62 gigatons (Gt) CO2 (natural gas) or more than 0.31 Gt CO2 (crude oil) when burned (calculated as of January 1, 2021), unless the company can demonstrate GHG neutrality for the CO2 emissions in excess of this amount, and; (ii) opening new oil or gas fields, both nationally or internationally, after December 31, 2025; or (indirectly) participating in such openings through equity holdings in other companies.

Barbara Metz et al., v. Wintershall Dea AG

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Barbara Metz et al., v. Wintershall Dea AG - Other

Filed

Germany

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

A ban is a legal action that prevents the sale or supply of a product or service, or that recalls a product from the market. Examples are bans on SF6, greenwashing, fossil fuel advertisement or single-use plastics.

A target to reduce the prevalence of a greenhouse gas over a specific time frame

A commitment to balance GHG emissions with removal by a certain point in time, effectively reducing the net emissions to zero

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

The release of heat-trapping gases, primarily from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and industry.

A long-lived, colourless gas, chiefly emitted from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and cement production.

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

A drought is an extended period of unusually dry weather marked by a significant and sustained lack of precipitation, falling below a specific threshold over a large area for more than a month

Terrestrial means "of the earth" and relates to the risks to ecological system that includes all living organisms and their interactions within land-based environments, such as forests, grasslands, and deserts.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

Barbara Metz et al., v. Wintershall Dea AG - Other

Target

Policy instrument

Risk

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Finance