Higher Regional Court Hamm: Approach of a Peruvian farmer against RWE!

Higher Regional Court Hamm: Approach of a Peruvian farmer against RWE!

Huaraz, Peru - The Higher Regional Court of Hamm has rejected the Peruvian small farmer Saúl Luciano Lliuya against the German energy group RWE. Lliuya has been complaining since 2015, since he sees his home in Huaraz, Peru, through melting glaciers and a growing glacier lake, the Palcacococha. The risk of tidal waves that could endanger his homeland was the central point of his lawsuit, in which he asked RWE to take part in the costs for corresponding protective measures. However, the likelihood of such a tidal wave has been assessed as too low in the next 30 years and, according to the report, is around 1%. ZVW reports that no revision was allowed and a legal process is excluded to the Federal Court of Justice.

Rolf Meyer, the presiding judge, named the probability that Lliuya's house could actually be affected as not significant. The decision is based on expert reports that have examined the danger situation on site. In 2023, German judges traveled to Huaraz to get an idea of ​​the situation. The lawsuit was a significant legal challenge, since RWE is responsible for 0.47% of the global CO2 emissions and is one of the hundred largest climate sons worldwide. Nevertheless, RWE considers the lawsuit inadmissible and argues that climate change is a global phenomenon for which a company cannot be held solely responsible. According to Geo , legal experts have prognosted a success for lliuya.

The long struggle of the Saúl Luciano lliuya

The lawsuit is part of Lliuya’s long fight against the threats to the changes in the climate. In 2015 it became a symbol of resistance to climate damage caused by large corporations. The original decision for April 2025 was already scheduled at the beginning of the procedure, but was postponed to May 28, 2025. Regardless of the outcome of the process, Lliuya sees the fact that a German court has visited its city as a success and hopes that the case could initiate an important discussion about climate justice and the responsibility of companies.

As the internationally discussed lawsuit shows under the Seegereichenburg, such legal disputes in the context of climate change are of increasing importance. In different countries and regions, similar cases arise in which affected citizens complain against those responsible. Lliuya's lawsuit could also play a pioneering role for future lawsuits against companies that are criticized to contribute to the global climate crisis. This could result in far -reaching consequences for the financial markets if there was a guilty verdict against RWE, since it could possibly serve as a precedent for further complaints. Further information on the global legal disputes in the context of climate change can be found in an article at Spiegel .