Peruvian Saúl Luciano Lliuya scouts Lake Palcacocha in Peru. A wall of ice and snow rises over the sea. The lake in the Cordillera Blanca in the Andes has expanded beyond and become 34 times larger over the last fifty years. The 41-year-old has sued Germany’s largest electricity producer RWE. The coal company will be among the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe. Discharges that LLiuya believes will soon have fatal consequences for him and 50,000 inhabitants in the Peruvian city he lives in. It will soon erupt – There is a great danger that a large piece of rock and ice from the glacier could fall into the sea and trigger a flood of several million cubic meters, says Martin Mergili, geomorphologist at the Austrian University of Graz to The Guardian. A peer-reviewed study concludes that man-made emissions are to blame for the Palcaraju glacier sweating. Although people managed to warn people before a tidal wave, 20,000 people are in danger of losing their lives, local authorities estimate. Lliuya wants RWE to pay for securing the mountainside and the sea, so that 50,000 inhabitants of Huaraz are not hit by meltwater and landslides from the sea above. WITNESSING THE BRESMELTINGEN: Saul Luciano Lliuya is a mountain guide in the Cordillera Blanca in the Andes. Photo: LUKA GONZALES / AFP Can set a precedent German judges and court-appointed experts have visited the lake in Peru. The German court has already said that RWE will be responsible for the damage if it can be proven that the glacier poses a flood risk, and that climate change is the cause of its melting. – This is the first time in history that a private company is held responsible for emissions that lead to climate damage in another country, claims lawyer Roda Verheyen who represents Lliuya. It is also the first time a climate lawsuit uses research that estimates the probability that a natural disaster is due to climate change. Petra Minnerop, associate professor of international law at Durham University, states this. The outcome of the lawsuit will therefore set a precedent. GIANT EMISSIONS: RWE’s coal-fired power plant in Niederaussem, Germany. Photo: INA FASSBENDER / AFP – Norway’s trip soon The case may also have consequences for Norway. Such lawsuits tend to motivate others affected by climate change. – It is inevitable that Norway and Norwegian petroleum companies will be litigants for lawsuits in the future. This will have serious consequences for both the Norwegian reputation and the economy. That’s what Sony Kapoor says. He is Professor of Climate, Geoeconomics and Finance at the European University Institute. And here are the reasons why Norway is particularly vulnerable, according to Kapoor: – No one bothers to apply for compensation from someone who can not pay. The richer you are, the greater the chance of lawsuits. Norway is clearly among the two or three countries in the world with the greatest risk of being sued. Gloomy FORECASTS: Sony Kapoor predicts a landslide of climate lawsuits against Norway and the Norwegian oil industry. Photo: Signe Dons And the greater the intent, the higher the compensation claim, and the easier it will be to go after Norway, the professor points out: – Saudi Arabia can only blame that they did not believe in man-made climate change. While Norway will never be able to say that the country did not know better. In the end, the Oil Fund will be an attractive target for those seeking compensation for climate damage, Kapoor believes: – Norway has the world’s largest piggy bank where most of the money originates in the income from the sale of oil and gas. Perhaps Indonesian coal has done more damage. But there it is probably not as easy to target the claim for compensation, so that it does not affect “innocent” money.
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Will decide whether German company is to blame when Peruvian city is destroyed by meltwater – NRK Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
