By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-03-15 11:01:40 | Updated at 2025-03-15 16:49:51
5 hours ago
In the high Andes of northern Peru, the morning sun rises over glaciers in the Cordillera Blanca mountains that loom above the city of Huaraz, an awe-inspiring sight tainted by fears of a growing threat of meltwater floods.
The glaciers are at the centre of a landmark global case that will test the legal culpability of corporations over their greenhouse gas emissions and the role these play in climate change that is leading to more extreme weather around the world.
Saul Luciano Lliuya, a Huaraz farmer and mountain guide, is suing German energy firm RWE, demanding that it help pay for defences and flood mitigation for the city, tied to the company’s share of global man-made greenhouse gas emissions that he alleges have led to faster-melting glaciers.
The case will start on Monday at the Higher Regional Court of Hamm in Germany, with lawyers for Lliuya alleging RWE is responsible for 0.5 per cent of global emissions and should therefore pay 0.5 per cent, or some 17,000 euros (US$18,500) of a local US$3.5 million flood defence project.
“We didn’t start out with a lot of hope, but now it’s caused a lot of attention,” Lliuya said near his home in a hilly region outside Huaraz where he grows corn. Lliuya, who is backed by Germanwatch, an activist group that advocates for the environment and other issues, said he wants to set a precedent for polluting companies to pay for projects that mitigate the impact of climate change.
“The company has polluted and it should take responsibility for its emissions,” he said.
