Sindh farmers sue RWE and Heidelberg Materials over 2022 flood losses
Thirty-nine farmers from Sindh are taking two German industrial giants to court over the 2022 floods, arguing that RWE and Heidelberg Materials should pay for damage they say the companies' emissions helped cause. The plaintiffs estimate the energy firm contributed 0.68 percent and the cement maker 0.12 percent of global industrial emissions.
The case is being heard in Germany, where a ruling last year in a Peruvian farmer's suit against RWE rejected his compensation claim but left the door open to holding emitters liable. Roda Verheyen, a German lawyer involved in both cases, said the Pakistani farmers' suit builds on that ruling and accuses the companies of "wrongful behaviour", arguing they knew of climate impacts since the 1960s and did not cut emissions enough.
Abdul Hafeez Khoso, a 43-year-old farmer from Jacobabad, described the floods as "an apocalyptic scene -- not even our elders had ever witnessed such weather". Munawar Khatoon, a landowner in Usman Samtio, said the waters struck just before the wheat harvest and wiped out her family's main income. In Dadu district, litigant Abdul Khalique Laghari estimates he lost $14,000 in assets and still cannot repay his debts.
Both companies deny wrongdoing. Heidelberg Materials said its operations complied with German law and that firms could not be expected to face different standards retroactively. RWE called the suit "yet another attempt to shift climate policy demands to German courtrooms", arguing that retroactive civil liability would contradict a state that permits and regulates CO2 emissions.
The floods hit a third of Pakistan, killed 1,700 people and affected 30 million, according to the account given in the case. The civil process is likely to take years; for the litigants, the attempt itself matters. "This case is for justice," Khatoon said. "We hold these companies responsible for our destruction."
