Thirty-nine farmers from Sindh province in Pakistan have filed a civil lawsuit in Germany against RWE and Heidelberg Materials. They are seeking compensation for losses suffered during the 2022 floods.
According to AFP, these plaintiffs estimate the two groups' share of historical global industrial emissions at 0.68% for RWE and 0.12% for Heidelberg Materials.
This is one of the first attempts worldwide to have polluting companies compensate victims of disasters worsened by climate change.
The companies targeted are two German industrial giants: the energy group RWE and the cement maker Heidelberg Materials.
They are being targeted after a landmark ruling issued last year in Germany against RWE, which paved the way for these lawsuits.
The plaintiff in that case did not obtain any money. The court nonetheless ruled that German civil law allowed climate compensation to be sought from companies responsible for cross-border harm.
Four years later, Munawar Khatoon, one of the few women landowners in this conservative region, recalls that the floods struck just before the wheat harvest. They wiped out her family's main source of income.
Both groups reject the civil action outright. They argue that their activities are legal.
Heidelberg Materials said companies could not be required retroactively to comply with different rules. The cement maker told AFP that its activities complied with German law.
Increasingly, NGOs and lawyers are taking on companies. It is now up to German judges to interpret existing law in order to decide.