Hamm, Germany, March 19, 2025 — This week the Higher Regional Court of Hamm heard the highly anticipated climate case brought by Peruvian farmer mountain guide Saúl Luciano Lliuya against the German energy company RWE. A decision is expected on April 14, 2025.
By reaffirming the polluter pays principle, the Court shifted the legal dial, not just in Germany but worldwide: the era of holding fossil fuel corporations accountable for climate-related damage has begun.
CIEL’s Senior Attorney, Sebastien Duyck, said:
“This hearing marks a turning point in climate litigation and the fight to hold big polluters accountable. A fossil fuel giant being forced to answer in court for its role in climate harm is a seismic shift—signaling the beginning of the end of the era of industry’s impunity.
“In a desperate move to evade accountability, RWE’s legal team tried to persuade the judges to overturn the precedent they set in 2017 by resorting to the same worn-out arguments the polluting industry always uses to evade responsibility. It is ever more evident how deeply concerned the fossil fuel industry is that the Court’s past and future rulings will reaffirm major polluters’ responsibility for climate harms.”
CIEL’s Climate & Energy Program Director, Nikki Reisch, added:
“These hearings send a powerful message—not only to the dozens of similar ongoing cases around the world but to communities everywhere that justice is coming within reach. As a matter of law, major polluters’ contributions to climate harm carry legal consequences.
“The fossil fuel industry and its financial backers should take heed: there is no escaping climate accountability. In the rising tide of climate litigation, the fossil fuel industry is a sinking ship. Investors face a choice: stop funding climate destruction or go down with it.”
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Media Contacts:
Rossella Recupero, Communications Campaign Specialist, Center for International Environmental Law, [email protected] | or via WhatsApp at +39 3404739827
About the case:
In 2015, Saúl Luciano Lliuya, a Peruvian farmer and mountain guide, claimed that the largest electricity producer in Germany, RWE, by knowingly contributing to climate change, is in part responsible for the glacier melt and related flood risk near his home in Huaraz, potentially leading to massive destruction and loss of life. Based on RWE’s contribution to global emissions of greenhouse gases (0.47 percent), the case seeks compensation for that share of the incurred costs of flood protection measures (i.e., $21,000), which can be considered adaptation measures.
The climate lawsuit has already made legal history: In 2017, the Higher Regional Court decided that the case was admissible, thereby recognizing that a corporation could be held liable for climate-related damage. It has since decided to proceed with the hearing of evidence, which took place on March 17 and 19 in Hamm. The Court will issue a decision in the next three weeks.