Volkswagen is facing a strange lawsuit over climate change: details here

Volkswagen, as the world’s second-largest automaker, has contributed to the environment, the plaintiff said.

German car manufacturer Volkswagen he faces a bizarre lawsuit in his home country, where a farmer said the automaker is partly responsible for the impact of global warming on his family business. Farmer Ulf Alhof-Kramer claims that drier soil and heavier rains due to climate change are damaging its fields, livestock and commercial forests. He told the media that farmers have already suffered more and faster from climate change than expected, arguing that Volkswagen as the second largest automaker in the world has caused this damage.

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However, during the first hearing, the German regional court asked the plaintiff and his lawyers to provide more information to confirm his complaint, according to the German news agency dpa. The judge was also asked to clarify whether the farmer had suffered climate-related losses or was just waiting for them. The lawsuit is supported by the environmental group Greenpeace, which previously supported similar legal efforts.

In its complaint, Allhoff-Cramer calls on Volkswagen to stop production of cars with internal combustion engines by 2030. German automakers rejected a similar demand by environmental groups last year. Meanwhile, Volkswagen said in a statement that it seeks to reduce emissions as quickly as the business allows, but has set itself a deadline of 2050 to reduce carbon emissions to zero.

The automaker also said that Volkswagen is in favor of climate protection and rapid decarbonisation of the transport sector, but can not cope with this task alone. He also added that the transformation depends on government regulation, technological development and buyer behavior.

Date of first publication: May 23, 2022, 12:35 p.m.