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VW investors file $2.2bn lawsuit in German court

Investment manager Blackrock, the world's largest, on Friday joined around 160 other shareholders to claim compensation from German carmaker Volkswagen over its massive diesel emissions scandal.

VW investors file $2.2bn lawsuit in German court
File photo: DPA
A spokesman for the state court in Brunswick, not far from VW's Wolfsburg headquarters, confirmed that the lawsuit had been filed early on Friday afternoon.
   
The spokesman was unable to provide details about the amount claimed by plaintiffs, but weekly news magazine Der Spiegel reported that the investors were seeking more than 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) in damages.
   
Blackrock targeted “Volkswagen's failure to disclose to investors the use of 'defeat devices' that manipulated emission tests” in a statement on Thursday announcing the legal action.
   
VW admitted in September 2015 that it had built software into 11 million diesel vehicles that detected when they were undergoing regulatory emissions tests and temporarily lowered the amount of harmful nitrogen oxides in the exhaust.
   
As well as suffering a heavy blow to its reputation, Volkswagen has had to set aside billions for potential damages and fines, with the bill for the crisis mounting to almost $15 billion in the US alone.
   
Its share price has also been hammered on markets, plunging 40 percent in the days after the revelations on September 18.    
 
“Volkswagen continues to believe that we comprehensively fulfilled our obligations under capital markets law and that the claims are unjustified,” a spokesman for the carmaker told AFP on Friday in response to the complaint.
   
The latest lawsuit adds to a growing stack of legal challenges related to the 'dieselgate' scandal weighing down VW, including another case at the Brunswick state court launched by almost 400 investors claiming around 4 billion euros.
   
On Friday, the German state of Hesse announced that it would launch a compensation claim of its own, becoming the second of the country's 16 regions after Bavaria to do so.
   
German news agency DPA reported that the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg will soon file a separate case to avoid falling foul of a one-year legal deadline.

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Denmark signals support for zero-emissions zones in cities

A new proposal presented by the government on Wednesday could give local authorities the ability to designate zero-emissions zones in cities.

Denmark signals support for zero-emissions zones in cities
Parking spaces at a charging point in Aalborg. The sign reads "reserved for electric cars". File photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

The zones would only allow access to vehicles without combustion engines, such as electric cars.

Wednesday’s government proposal states that there is already demand at municipalities for zero-emissions zones in set parts of cities in order to reduce air and noise pollution.

The government said it wants to accommodate that demand while still enabling people to live, move around and shop in the zones.

“The government will therefore look closely at whether affected residents and businesses in the area have realistic alternatives and that there would be time to meet the criteria,” the government writes in the proposal.

“A framework must also be set to ensure access for necessary use of industrial vehicles, including delivery of goods,” it adds.

A long period of transition would be required in municipalities that decide to take up the option of establishing the zones, according to interest groups for the automotive industry.

Goods vehicles could be amongst those to face the largest obstacles in such a situation, as the range on zero emissions goods vehicles on the market is limited, according to the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI).

“That means it would be difficult to ensure supply to cities where the requirement for zero emissions might be effective,” DI’s CEO Lars Sandahl Sørensen said via written comment.

The association for car importers in Denmark, De Danske Bilimportører, said that the zones would be difficult to implement without a long phasing-in.

“The proposal for zero emissions zones in particular is very far reaching and can hardly be implemented without a long phasing in period, as the range of electric and hydrogen cars with sufficient range should be greater,” the organization’s CEO Mads Rørvig said in a statement.

FDM, an association for motorists in Denmark, went further in its criticism of the plan.

“It’s far too early and disproportionate to have zero-emissions zones that would exclude 98 percent of Danish motorists,” FDM senior consultant Dennis Lange said in a written comment.

“This is a symbolic policy which will have no measurable effect on pollution,” he added.

READ ALSO: Lower Danish taxes backed for home electric car charging

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