Campaigners seek intervention in dieselgate court case
Thu, 26 Jun 2025
The High Court has given two campaign groups, Mums for Lungs and ClientEarth, the green light to proceed with applications to intervene in the upcoming dieselgate litigation.
The trial is scheduled for October 2025. It will decide whether certain diesel cars made by Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Peugeot Citroen and Renault were fitted with illegal ‘defeat devices’.
In claims, vehicle owners alleged that these devices artificially lowered NOx levels during emissions testing in order to circumvent legal emissions limits.
As they are not part of the litigation, the two campaign groups asked the High Court to grant access to material from the proceedings that "explains the operation and impact of any alleged defeat devices."
In particular, they asked the Court to "lift redactions applied by the vehicle companies to information which shows how the alleged defeat devices functioned, including at what temperature, speed, torque and other thresholds that were operational."
Unless the restrictions are removed, it is likely that almost all of the dieselgate trial in October will need to be conducted behind closed doors, say the campaigners.
A hearing will take place in July - and the ruling means that the organisations will not need to pay any costs if they are unsuccessful.
"Public access to this material is essential, not just to ensure justice is done, but to help guide government investigations and ensure action is taken to finally clear up this mess," says ClientEarth campaigner Andrea Lee.
"For too long, auto manufacturers have tried to sweep this scandal under the rug. This case could finally bring crucial information to light and reveal the true scale of what happened."
Mums for Lungs founder Jemima Hartshorn added that the public "has a direct interest in understanding the circumstances in which any alleged historic defeat devices operated and what alleged impact these devices have had, including whether they resulted in NOx emissions above the legal limits."
A report commissioned by ClientEarth claims that in the UK alone between 2009 and 2024, excess emissions likely linked to the use of prohibited defeat devices have caused an estimated 16,000 premature deaths and £96bn in costs.
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