The German court abandoned the Peruvian farmers’ lawsuit seeking damages from the RWE for the alleged role of German energy utility in putting his homeland at risk through climate change, but set a potentially significant precedent for the polluter’s liability for their carbon emissions.
The High District Court in the Western City of Ham on Wednesday blocked a groundbreaking complaint brought by 44-year-old Saul Luciano Ruriya, who argued that RWE’s historic emissions were responsible for the higher flood risk caused by the melting of the Andean glaciers his hometown faced.
However, a court judge ruled that businesses “have an obligation to take precautions” to combat emissions, according to a statement from the court.
“If a polluter specifically refuses to do so, they can hold that even before actual costs arise, they must bear the costs proportionate to their share of emissions,” the court concluded.
The ruling supported the argument made by Saul Luciano Ruria. He argued that he should pay to protect his hometown near the city of Uarraz in northern Peru from a glacial lake swollen by melting snow and ice.