German court dismisses Peruvian farmer's lawsuit against RWE over climate change
"Peruvian climate lawsuit against German coal giant dismissed", 15 Dec 2016
A climate lawsuit by Peruvian farmer and mountain guide Saul Luciano Lliuya against energy company RWE was dismissed by Essen district court, Germany, on Thursday...He was seeking €17,000 from RWE towards a dam to protect up to 50,000 people at risk, in light of the utility’s historic contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. But the judge ruled that while there was “scientific causality”, his lawyer Roda Verheyen had not demonstrated “legal causality”. In other words, the court was not convinced RWE was legally responsible for protecting Huaraz, despite evidence that its activities had contributed to the town’s predicament...Undeterred, Verheyen said her client would “most likely appeal” to Hamm regional court...If successful on appeal, it could inspire a wave of similar claims...A spokesperson for RWE said Thursday’s judgment vindicated the company’s arguments: “Due to a world-wide variety of greenhouse gas emissions from natural and anthropological sources, the complexity of the climate as well as its natural variability, in RWE’s opinion it is not possible to attribute specific effects of change in the climate to just one emitter.”...