Greenpeace, the world environmental organization, has not stopped launching initiatives in its objective against climate change. In recent months, since the economic crisis, the organization has focused on holding large companies accountable for changing their objectives of mitigating environmental impact due to their high costs.
Volkswagen, in particular, has been the target of Greenpeace activism. The German carmaker, which five years ago was found guilty of using tampered devices to cheat emissions tests for its diesel engines, is now also the target of direct action and organized protests by the organization at VW plants elsewhere.
Volkswagen is not the only one in the sector targeted by Greenpeace. Ford has also been the target of complaints for its environmental impact. The company has faced criticism for the high emissions from its vehicles and because the environmental organization believes that it does not do “enough” to make the transition to low-emission and electric vehicles a reality.
Greenpeace vs. Volkswagen
In this context, we must analyze the novelty of this Tuesday, February 14: a German court dismissed a lawsuit filed by Greenpeace against Volkswagen in which the automaker was asked to toughen its carbon emissions target.
The plaintiffs, two officials from the German Greenpeace subsidiary and the environmental activist Clara Mayerthey said that VW was violating their fundamental freedoms for continuing to impact the climate to the detriment.
In a statement related to the determination of the German Justice, the plaintiffs said that “the last word has not been said on the climate lawsuit against Volkswagen.” “We are designing new legal steps and we are confident that we can get Volkswagen to do more in climate protection,” added.
Volkswagen, for its part, said in another statement to the press that civil lawsuits against individual companies they are not the “right way” to determine action on climate change.
Volkswagen has set itself the goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. The company hopes to achieve this by investing in ecars and phasing out its production of internal combustion engines.
The VW Group had pledged to use 100 percent renewable energy in all its factories by 2023, but the target was extended after the crisis that began in 2022.
Other car manufacturers are following the same path. General Motors has announced plans to produce only electric vehicles by 2035.
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