BOGOTA, Colombia — As a crucial climate lawsuit heads to trial in Germany next week, experts say the case brought by Peruvian farmer Saul Luciano Lliuya against German energy giant RWE could set a significant precedent in the fight to hold major polluters accountable for climate change.
“This is one of the first cases of its kind — a case brought by someone directly affected by climate change against a major greenhouse gas emitter — that has made it all the way to trial,” said Noah Walker-Crawford, a research fellow at the London School of Economics and an adviser to the non-profit Germanwatch, which has been advising Lliuya.
Lliuya’s lawsuit against RWE argues that the company’s historical greenhouse gas emissions have fueled global warming, accelerating glacial melt above his hometown of Huaraz, Peru. As a result, Lake Palcacocha has swelled to dangerous levels, threatening the community with the risk of catastrophic flooding.
RWE, which has never operated in Peru, denies legal responsibility, arguing that climate change is a global issue caused by many contributors.
“It’s very sad and painful to see the glaciers melting,” Lliuya, 45, told Associated Press in a video call from Germany. “There is a lot of concern from people in my community about the future, about the issue of water, because all the rivers that come down from the mountains are used for farming.”
Walker-Crawford said of all these cases around the world, this is the one that’s gone the furthest.
“It has already set a partial precedent in that the courts found it admissible in 2017, which means that the judges said the case is solid in legal terms,” he said. “Now, the court is hearing evidence, and we’ll see whether the company’s responsibility can be proven in this specific case.”
Sebastien Duyck, a senior attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law, says the reason why the case is so significant is not the decision itself or the amount of damages sought, but the precedent it would set.
“If we could use tort law to say that any fossil fuel corporation that has contributed significantly to climate change can be held liable for climate-related costs in proportion to their emissions, it could open the door for many similar cases