A German court has thrown out a Peruvian farmer’s lawsuit seeking damages from RWE for the German energy utility’s alleged role in putting his hometown at risk through climate change, but set a potentially important precedent on polluters’ liability for their carbon emissions.
The higher regional court in the western city of Hamm on Wednesday blocked the landmark complaint brought by Saul Luciano Lliuya, 44, who argued that RWE’s historical emissions meant it was responsible for the higher flood risk caused by the melting of the Andean glaciers his hometown was facing.
