Peruvian farmer suits German company for climate change
The German judicial system is reviewing the application from a Peruvian farmer against the energy giant RWE.
Saul Luciano Lliuya, Peruvian farmer and high mountain guide, has observed for several years the deterioration of Andean glaciers. He decided to launch legal proceedings against the RWE (Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk Aktiengesellschaft) German conglomerate in 2015 on the grounds that it is one of the main greenhouse gas emitters. He estimates that RWE is contributing to global greenhouse gas emissions by 0.47%.
“I want to be able to go back to my mountains and say to people that I have done something for them”, declared Mr Lliuya on 13 November before the court. Father of two children, he is seeking funding from RWE for some of the safety improvement work against flooding risks in the community of Huaraz, capital of the region of Ancash, in northern Peru. He also wants reimbursing for the €6,300 of work carried out to protect his home against rising water.
On 30 November 2017, the Appeal Court of Hamm, after having declared the action admissible, ordered a series of evaluations to determine the causal link between the greenhouse gases emitted by RWE and the melting of ice which threatens the City of Huaraz from where the claimant originally comes. Nevertheless, it comes down to the Peruvian farmer putting forward the €20,000 that is required to begin the evaluations, specify the judges.
“For me, victory is already being here at court and speaking about our approach, what we have not been able to do up to now”, expressed with satisfaction the lawyer of the complainant, who refutes the accusation of having made RWE a symbolic scapegoat for the planet’s hardships and sufferings.
RWE maintains that, according to it, this application “is unjustified, because a single issuer cannot be held accountable for phenomena conforming to innumerable causes”. “We would then find ourselves in a situation where everybody is attacking the world. Anyone who feels aggrieved in a corner of the world could hold someone accountable”, and “not only an energy company” but any polluter, “even to the extent of the tourist who is travelling on an airplane”, declared the company’s spokesman, Guido Steffen, on Thursday.
This is an important milestone in accepting the globalisation of climatic effects in human activity, even if this in no way means that RWE will be held accountable.
Associated areas of specialisation: Environment