German court rejects landmark Peruvian climate case

A German court rejected a landmark climate case against energy giant RWE, but said that companies can be held liable for the impacts of their emissions.

The case was brought by a Peruvian farmer, who alleged that RWE — for more than a century one of Europe’s biggest electricity producers — contributed disproportionately to climate change, which in turn melted glaciers that now threaten the farmer’s property.

Although the court did not consider the threat to the farmer’s property as imminent, the ruling nonetheless represents a tailwind for lawsuits against fossil fuel companies. “It is an immense historic shifting of the dial,” the farmer’s lawyer told DW.