A German appeals court has dismissed the case of a Peruvian farmer suing the energy giant RWE for climate damages.
The upper regional court in Hamm rejected the argument by the farmer and mountain guide Saúl Luciano Lliuya that his home was at direct risk of being washed away by a glacial flood.
Lliuya initially filed a case against RWE in 2015, backed by the non-profit Germanwatch, to make the company contribute to local flood defences in line with its share of planet-heating pollution. The German electricity company is one of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas polluters but has never operated in Peru.
Lliuya’s case was at first thrown out by a lower court in Essen, where RWE is headquartered, but the appeals court in Hamm later found it to be “admissible”. Climate campaigners hailed it as a development that would open the door for fossil fuel companies to be held liable in civil courts for global harms.
The court said it would not be possible for Lliuya to appeal against Wednesday’s ruling.
Lliuya’s home sits in the Andean town of Huaraz, large parts of which were wiped out in 1941 when Lake Palcacocha overflowed and triggered floods that killed thousands of people. A hearing in Hamm in March centred on the direct risk of a glacial lake outburst flood resulting in damage to Lliuya’s property.
Climate campaigners have increasingly taken polluters to court for their role in heating the planet, several of which have resulted in courts ordering greater efforts to cut pollution.
Similar cases that are ongoing have been filed in Belgium by a cattle farmer targeting the French oil giant TotalEnergies, and in Switzerland by four Indonesians targeting the cement maker Holcim.
More details soon …
