Saúl Luciano Lliuya, an Andean farmer and mountain guide, who believed he was seriously threatened by a wave of flooding due to the consequences of global warming, filed a lawsuit against the German energy company RWE in a German civil court on November 24, 2015. Mr. Lliuya believed that RWE was one of the largest CO2 emitters in Europe and was, in part, responsible for the climate crisis and the threat he faced. His claim was rejected by a court in Essen. In 2017, the Hamm Regional High Court accepted his appeal.
Although the Hamm Regional High Court ultimately dismissed the individual complaint in a ruling dated 28 May 2025, it recognised the legal principle that companies can, in principle, be held legally liable for damages caused by their contribution to climate change.
For the Court, the great distance between the defendant’s power plants and the plaintiff’s place of residence in Peru does not in itself constitute a sufficient reason to characterize the action as unfounded.
To access the court’s press release and the judgment, follow the link: https://www.olg-hamm.nrw.de/behoerde/presse/Pressemitteilun.