A Peruvian farmer takes on Germany’s largest electricity firm
The outcome of the climate lawsuit will have global implications
It takes two bumpy hours in a 4x4 to climb from the city of Huaraz, 3,000 metres up in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca mountain range, to the turquoise puddle of Lake Palcacocha, 1,500m higher. On May 25th a convoy of 16 vehicles made the ascent, kicking up dust as it went. It carried an unusual group of people, including a Huaracino farmer, his lawyers, judges from Germany and Peru, and climate scientists.
It was the farmer, Saúl Luciano Lliuya, who had brought them together. In 2015, Mr Luciano Lliuya (pictured) teamed up with Germanwatch, a German green ngo, to sue rwe, Germany’s largest power company and Europe’s second-largest emitter, for belching nearly 7bn tonnes of greenhouse gases between 1854 and 2010. This, he says, has put his house at risk of a devastating flood. Last week’s expedition marked the first step of his claim. If he wins, there would be global implications.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline "Fight the power company"
From the June 4th 2022 edition
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