Floods in Pakistan: Will German industrialists soon be targeted by the justice system?
Forty-three Pakistani farmers accuse two German companies, energy company RWE and cement producer Heidelberg Materials, of being responsible for climate change and, by extension, for the floods that ravaged their land in 2022. They are demanding compensation.
Saúl Luciano Lliuya's battle may not have been in vain. In March, this Peruvian farmer and mountain guide unsuccessfully sued the energy giant Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk AG (RWE) in Germany , accusing it of being responsible for the climate threats facing his home in Huaraz. The German courts ruled against him, but also acknowledged that it was possible to hold a company accountable for its role in climate change, even if the consequences are felt on the other side of the world.
“At the time, the farmer’s lawyers predicted that other complaints would be launched in the wake of this case,” recalls Westdeutsche Rundfunk Köln (WDR) . And it's probably about to happen.” Forty-three Pakistani farmers are threatening to sue the energy company, as well as the German company Heidelberg Materials, which produces cement, among other things. “They are calling on both companies to compensate them for the losses and damages they claim to have suffered nearly three years ago during major floods.”
In 2022, Pakistan was struck by devastating floods that killed over 1,000 people and caused billions of dollars in damage. “The Sindh region [in southern Pakistan] was the hardest hit; parts of the province were still underwater more than a year after the disaster , ” WDR reports. “The farmers [who want to sue RWE and Heidelberg Materials] are from this very region.”
These farmers believe that RWE and Heidelberg Materials are responsible for the natural disaster that struck their country because they contribute significantly to climate change. “They chose these two companies because they are among the ‘Carbon Majors,’ the 100 firms responsible for nearly 70% of greenhouse gas emissions from global industry.”
At a press conference, farmer Abdoul Hafeez Khoso protested: “This is a matter of justice. How is it fair that we pay the price for a climate crisis we did not cause, while large companies continue to rake in profits?”
