Sindh farmers sue RWE, Heidelberg Materials in Germany over 2022 floods

Thirty-nine farmers from Sindh have filed a damages claim in Germany against the energy company RWE and the cement maker Heidelberg Materials, arguing that the firms' emissions helped intensify the 2022 monsoon rains that destroyed their crops, livestock and homes.

Most of the plaintiffs are from Jacobabad and Dadu districts. They estimate that RWE accounts for 0.68 per cent of global industrial emissions and Heidelberg Materials for 0.12 per cent. The claim targets the companies for their cumulative emissions, not for any operation they run in Pakistan. Both are headquartered in Germany, where a recent ruling opened the way for suits of this kind.

Abdul Hafeez Khoso, 43, who lives with his wife and a small child in Jacobabad district, described the flood as "a scene of destruction. Even our elders had never seen such weather."

Munawar Khatoon, 43, a farmer in Osman Samtiyo village, said the water arrived just before the wheat harvest, submerging the seed and wiping out her family's main source of income. "We worry how the next generation will survive if this continues," she said. "Now when the rainy season comes, we are afraid."

Abdul Khaliq Laghari, 55, of neighbouring Dadu district, put his losses at $14,000, including his house, 40 acres (16 hectares) of crops and his livestock. "To this day we have not been able to repay our debt," he said, pointing to cracked walls and the remains of flood-damaged homes. "When we wake in the morning, the calls start coming from the people we owe."

The case is backed by Pakistani and European organisations, among them the Hands Welfare Foundation, which mobilised the communities involved. Meer Keryo, a development expert with the foundation, said: "We always blame natural disasters, and sometimes we blame God, but science tells us climate change is increasing the risk and severity of extreme weather." He said those who played a significant role in the crisis should be held accountable.

Roda Verheyen, a German lawyer involved in this case and in an earlier claim brought by a Peruvian farmer against RWE, said the Pakistani filing builds on last year's ruling in that case. The compensation claim there was rejected, but the courts left open the door to holding emitters liable. She said large companies had known about the general effects of climate change since the 1960s and should have taken due care and tried to cut emissions.

RWE called the case "another attempt to move environmental policy demands into German courts". The company said it would be contradictory for the state to permit carbon dioxide emissions, regulate them and in some cases require them, while also allowing civil liability for the past. Heidelberg Materials says its operations comply with German law and that companies cannot be expected to face different standards for the past. Both firms describe the claims as unfounded.

The 2022 floods affected a third of Pakistan, killed 1,700 people and hit 30 million, in a country that contributes less than one per cent of global emissions. The claim will be heard in civil proceedings expected to take years.