Thirty-nine farmers from Pakistan's southern Sindh province are pursuing a German lawsuit against RWE and Heidelberg Materials for losses suffered during the 2022 floods. The suit targets the corporations for their historical emissions, arguing they worsened the catastrophic rainfall that submerged a third of Pakistan, killed 1,700 people, and impacted 30 million residents. Plaintiffs contend the companies understood climate impacts since the 1960s, estimating that RWE and Heidelberg Materials contributed 0.68 percent and 0.12 percent to global industrial emissions, respectively. Both corporations reject the claims, arguing that their operations comply with domestic laws and that policy mat…
Key points
The legal challenge seeks to establish corporate cross-border liability for climate damag…: The legal challenge seeks to establish corporate cross-border liability for climate damages proportionate to a company's historical emissions.
Heidelberg Materials maintains that its operations adhere to German law and rejects the r…: Heidelberg Materials maintains that its operations adhere to German law and rejects the retroactive application of new legal standards.
RWE contends that civil courts should not adjudicate industrial emissions that are alread…: RWE contends that civil courts should not adjudicate industrial emissions that are already formally permitted and regulated by the state.
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In a Pakistani village nestled in rice fields, Abdul Hafeez Khoso remembers the vast industrial zones he saw in Germany when he visited to file a pioneering climate legal case.
"They're spreading pollution: up in the sky there are no borders, it can affect anywhere," the 43-year-old said.
"This is a problem for the whole world -- that is why it should be resolved at the global level."
Khoso and 38 other farmers from Pakistan's southern Sindh province who were devastated by "apocalyptic" flooding in 2022 are suing German energy firm RWE and cement maker Heidelberg Materials in a rare bid to make big polluters pay damages for climate impacts.
The companies are being targeted not over specific operations in Pakistan, but because of their climate-warming emissions. They are headquartered in Germany, where a recent legal case opened the door to such suits.
The litigation argues that the companies' emissions contributed to climate change and turbo-charged rain that wiped out their crops, livestock and homes.
"The year 2022 was an apocalyptic scene -- not even our elders had ever witnessed…
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