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Title: German Court Confirms Civil Liability for Corporate Climate Harms

Link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/05/30/1741...

An anonymous reader shares a report: In a landmark ruling advancing efforts
to hold major polluters accountable for transnational climate-related harms,
on May 28 a German court concluded that a corporation can be held liable
under civil law for its proportional contribution to global climate change,
Climate Rights International said today. Filed in 2015, the case against
German energy giant RWE AG challenged the corporation to pay for its
proportional share of adaptation costs needed to protect the Andean city of
Huaraz, Peru, from a flood from a glacial lake exacerbated by global warming.
RWE AG, one of Europe's largest emitters, is estimated to be responsible for
approximately 0.47% of global historical global greenhouse gas emissions.
"This groundbreaking ruling confirms that corporate emitters can no longer
hide behind borders, politics, or scale to escape responsibility," said Lotte
Leicht, Advocacy Director at Climate Rights International. "The court's
message is clear: major carbon polluters can be held legally responsible for
their role in driving the climate crisis and the resulting human rights and
economic harms. If the reasoning of this decision is adopted by other courts,
it could lay the foundation for ending the era of impunity for fossil fuel
giants and other big greenhouse gas emitters."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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