Why is a Peruvian farmer taking energy firm RWE to court?

CGTN Europe

CGTN Europe interviewed Dr. Christina Voigt, an expert in international environmental law at the University of Oslo, Norway.

Transcript

00:00Let's talk now to Dr. Kristina Vois, an expert in international environmental law at the University of Oslo in Norway.

00:07Kristina, welcome to the program. What makes this case against RWE so legally significant?

00:14Well, quite a number of things. First of all, because this case concerns past omissions, right?

00:21Past omissions that RWE has contributed with over quite a long time.

00:26So it's not a case that looks into the future and what better needs to be done,

00:30but it's about responsibility for what has already happened in the past.

00:34Second, it is a case, and it's I think the first case of all these climate cases worldwide,

00:40that actually deals with compensation for damages and contributions to avoiding further damages.

00:48And the third aspect, which is outstanding of this case, is liability for something that happened somewhere else in the world.

00:56RWE is not operating in Peru, but it's based in Germany, but it has contributed to that global concern of climate change

01:04and will hopefully be held liable for something that is worrying in many parts of the world, including in Peru.

01:12The tobacco industry was famously pursued in the 1970s and 80s for its part in causing cancer and other illnesses,

01:20but it was legally, fiendishly difficult to prove a direct link between smoking.

01:27Smoking equals cancer and illness, wasn't it?

01:30Can there ever be a direct line that is proven beyond doubt between polluter and the environment?

01:39Well, this is what is currently being dealt with by the court in Ham, in Germany,

01:45is the scientific contribution of RWE to climate change as such,

01:51and then to the specific damage that is being caused in Peru and to the plaintiff.

01:58A contribution to increase the risk would already be enough.

02:03We don't have to have a direct link between that one particular act and that one particular consequence,

02:10but we know that by contributing with a certain amount, a certain percentage of greenhouse gas emissions,

02:16there is a risk increase that has happened by the acts or emissions of RWE.

02:23What precedent might this case set for future climate legal action against polluters?

02:32A significant precedent.

02:34A precedent in the legal sense only in a German court,

02:37but we do know that many courts around the world are working on similar cases,

02:42and judges and courts are listening to each other.

02:45But within the German legal system, it would set a precedent if that court in Ham would find that RWE is liable,

02:56because then other companies, other contributors that historically have contributed to the causation of climate change,

03:05would not have any way out.

03:07They would be held as liable as RWE in this current case.

03:13And why not go after the regulator or the national government,

03:17who presumably bear some responsibility as well as the private company RWE that we're talking about here?

03:24That's happening in parallel, right?

03:26That's happening in parallel in many countries.

03:29There are cases ongoing, and there have been cases, and there will be cases,

03:33against governments for their past responsibility, current responsibilities.

03:39That is a different legal avenue pursued in parallel to the liability of private actors and corporations.

03:47And is this the end of the road legally, or might there be an appeal, depending on which way this goes?

03:55We still have to see what the court is going to say.

04:01We probably will have to wait for a couple of weeks until we see the judgment.

04:05It is possible to appeal.

04:07We don't know yet what's going to happen and how the judgment will look like,

04:11but it may not be the end of the road yet.

04:14I'm sure we'll talk again in coming weeks when we get to the end of this,

04:17but thank you for today, Dr. Christina Voigt from the University of Oslo in Norway.

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