(Still) no end to combustion engines for BMW

BMW will still be allowed to bring cars with climate-damaging internal combustion engines onto the market after 2030. This is the decision of the Munich Regional Court I, where a civil lawsuit against the carmaker was filed by the German Environmental Aid (DUH). The action had been brought by three managing directors of Umwelthilfe, who felt that their general right of privacy (APR) had been violated by BMW's passenger car sales and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions during car use. They demanded - via a so-called "climate-protecting injunctive relief" - that BMW would no longer market passenger cars with an internal combustion engine from 31 October 2030 "unless they exhibit greenhouse gas neutrality during use". In addition, an emissions threshold to be met for cars registered by 31 October was also to be determined. 

However, no such violation of the APR was found by the court. From a legal point of view, the regional court said, there was nothing to prevent the company from continuing to sell vehicles with internal combustion engines from 2030 onwards. There was no justification that could confirm the environmental association's claim for injunctive relief.  The action could therefore be dismissed.  

However, the DUH's claim still had potential to prove successful in the future. The claim of the environmental association was based primarily on a climate decision of the Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG) from 2021, which provides for generation-oriented planning of emission-reducing measures. According to the decision, the burden of climate change should not be shifted onto the shoulders of future generations - thus allowing the current population to continue to consume a disproportionate use of the CO2 budget. The transition to climate neutrality should be initiated in good time - with sufficient reduction targets already beyond 2030. 

Only from 2031, however, would the legislator - and indirectly the car industry - be obliged by the BVerfG to better regulate the reduction targets for greenhouse gas emissions. And this was precisely one of the points with which BMW defended itself in court. Moreover, the limitation of vehicle emissions had already been harmonised at the level of European law, for example in the context of the phasing out of internal combustion engines from 2035. Because "the debate about the way to achieve the climate targets must take place in the political process - not in the courtroom," says the BMW spokesman. An opinion that is also shared by the regional court. After all, it is first up to the legislator to "create minimum regulations on CO2 reduction requirements after 2030." But BMW can no longer insist that the DUH's demands are unrealistic. After all, in other states there are already regulations aiming at an end to internal combustion vehicles from 2030. Many countries, such as the Netherlands and France, are already introducing new and stricter environmental zones in which only electric vehicles are allowed, so-called zero emission zones. 

The legal and political requirements for BMW and other car manufacturers could therefore change in the future. The lawsuit, although unsuccessful at the moment, could positively intervene in favour of environmental protection in the future. Especially "if it is foreseeable that the climate protection targets will not be met" - explains DUH lawyer Remo Klinger. There is still hope that companies with a large CO2 footprint such as BMW - or Mercedes and VW - will have to fulfil their duty of care to provide sufficient climate protection by phasing out internal combustion vehicles prematurely. Future negotiations and fundamental decisions by the Federal Supreme Court - together with national and international resolutions in the field of climate and transport policy - could clear the way for this in the coming years.