On September 20, 2021, environmental organization Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH; Environmental Action Germany) filed an action against BMW in the Regional court of Munich for not yet having clearly and irreversibly committed to phase out the sale of passenger cars with internal combustion engines (ICE) by 2030. DUH argues that by failing to do so, the automaker is violating the fundamental right to climate protection and impinging upon the rights and freedoms of future generations, as phase out would be necessary for the company to adhere to its allocated carbon budget. The claim is grounded in the Paris Agreement and German Tort Law. The plaintiff relies on the earlier decision by the Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG) on the German Climate Protection Act, where the Court accepted that Germany has a limited total CO2 emissions budget remaining at its disposal (Neubauer v. Germany). The action filed against BMW is one of the first civil proceedings based on this decision.

DUH asks the court to hold that, (i) unless BMW can prove GHG neutrality for Scope 3 CO2 emissions resulting from the intended use of their ICE passenger cars, after October 31, 2030 BMW is obliged to refrain from placing ICE passenger cars on the market; and (ii) unless BMW can prove GHG neutrality for Scope 3 CO2 emissions globally exceeding a total of 604 million tons resulting from the intended use of ICE passenger cars (based on an average mileage of 200,000 km) between January 1, 2022 and October 31, 2030, BMW is obliged to refrain from placing new ICE passenger cars on the market. Alternatively, DUH asks the court to order BMW to stop placing new ICE passenger cars on the German market after October 31, 2030, unless BMW can prove GHG neutrality for the intended use of said cars. The requested ban on producing new ICE cars would take effect earlier than the 2035 effective ban proposed by the EU in July 2021.

On 21 September 2023, the Regional Court of Munich dismissed the climate lawsuit. The court held that, although climate-related interferences with fundamental rights are not excluded in principle, the continued sale of combustion vehicles does not currently constitute an unlawful infringement of the general right of personality. In light of the existing national and EU climate regulatory framework, the court found no basis for civil-law obligations extending beyond the legislature’s discretion as recognised by the Bundesverfassungsgericht.

On 12 October 2023, the Oberlandesgericht München (32 U 936/23) dismissed the appeal and fully affirmed the first-instance judgment. It emphasised that BMW markets its vehicles in compliance with applicable law and that the constitutional jurisprudence on the Climate Protection Act provides no indication that current legislation inadequately protects fundamental rights against the effects of climate change.

Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) v. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW)

<p>This entry was provided by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) v. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) - Other

Filed

The Climate Litigation Database

Find climate change litigation data and indicators for {text}.

{text} litigation

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides Climate Litigation Database, a comprehensive database of US and Global climate change caselaw

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Search the Climate Litigation Database

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

Codes and standards are regulatory instruments that specify minimum standards to protect health and safety. This ranges from performance standards, which prescribe outcomes while allowing flexibility to achieve compliance, to the more prescriptive approach of technology-specific standards.

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.

On September 20, 2021, environmental organization Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH; Environmental Action Germany) filed an action against BMW in the Regional court of Munich for not yet having clearly and irreversibly committed to phase out the sale of passenger cars with internal combustion engines (ICE) by 2030. DUH argues that by failing to do so, the automaker is violating the fundamental right to climate protection and impinging upon the rights and freedoms of future generations, as phase out would be necessary for the company to adhere to its allocated carbon budget. The claim is grounded in the Paris Agreement and German Tort Law. The plaintiff relies on the earlier decision by the Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG) on the German Climate Protection Act, where the Court accepted that Germany has a limited total CO2 emissions budget remaining at its disposal (Neubauer v. Germany). The action filed against BMW is one of the first civil proceedings based on this decision.

DUH asks the court to hold that, (i) unless BMW can prove GHG neutrality for Scope 3 CO2 emissions resulting from the intended use of their ICE passenger cars, after October 31, 2030 BMW is obliged to refrain from placing ICE passenger cars on the market; and (ii) unless BMW can prove GHG neutrality for Scope 3 CO2 emissions globally exceeding a total of 604 million tons resulting from the intended use of ICE passenger cars (based on an average mileage of 200,000 km) between January 1, 2022 and October 31, 2030, BMW is obliged to refrain from placing new ICE passenger cars on the market. Alternatively, DUH asks the court to order BMW to stop placing new ICE passenger cars on the German market after October 31, 2030, unless BMW can prove GHG neutrality for the intended use of said cars. The requested ban on producing new ICE cars would take effect earlier than the 2035 effective ban proposed by the EU in July 2021.

On 21 September 2023, the Regional Court of Munich dismissed the climate lawsuit. The court held that, although climate-related interferences with fundamental rights are not excluded in principle, the continued sale of combustion vehicles does not currently constitute an unlawful infringement of the general right of personality. In light of the existing national and EU climate regulatory framework, the court found no basis for civil-law obligations extending beyond the legislature’s discretion as recognised by the Bundesverfassungsgericht.

On 12 October 2023, the Oberlandesgericht München (32 U 936/23) dismissed the appeal and fully affirmed the first-instance judgment. It emphasised that BMW markets its vehicles in compliance with applicable law and that the constitutional jurisprudence on the Climate Protection Act provides no indication that current legislation inadequately protects fundamental rights against the effects of climate change. 

Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) v. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) - Other

Target

Policy instrument

Risk

Greenhouse gas

Finance