Pakistani Farmers Sue German Firms RWE and Heidelberg Materials Over 2022 Flood Losses

A group of 39 farmers from Pakistan's Sindh province has filed a civil lawsuit against two German companies, seeking compensation for losses incurred during the devastating 2022 floods. The plaintiffs are suing energy firm RWE and cement manufacturer Heidelberg Materials, arguing that the companies' greenhouse gas emissions contributed to climate change and intensified the rainfall that destroyed their crops, livestock and homes.

The case does not target any specific operations by the companies inside Pakistan. Instead, it focuses on their share of global industrial emissions. According to the plaintiffs' estimates, RWE accounts for roughly 0.68 percent of global industrial emissions, while Heidelberg Materials accounts for about 0.12 percent. Both companies have denied any wrongdoing.

The 2022 floods submerged roughly a third of Pakistan, killed around 1,700 people and affected about 30 million. Abdul Hafeez Khoso, a 43-year-old farmer from Jacobabad, described the flooding as an unprecedented disaster, noting that even older generations had never experienced such weather. Another plaintiff, Munawar Khatoon, a 43-year-old landowner from Usman Samtio, said floodwaters submerged wheat seeds shortly before harvest, wiping out her family's main source of income. She said the arrival of each rainy season now brings fear.

Mir Keerio of the HANDS Welfare Foundation, which helped mobilize communities for the lawsuit, said climate change is raising the risks and intensity of extreme weather events, and argued that the largest contributors to the crisis should be held accountable.

The case builds on a German court ruling last year in a separate suit brought by a Peruvian farmer against RWE. Although the court rejected his compensation claim, it left open the possibility of holding companies liable for climate-related damage. German lawyer Roda Verheyen, who is involved in both cases, said the new lawsuit also accuses the companies of wrongful conduct, arguing that large firms have known about the general impacts of climate change since the 1960s and should have taken stronger steps to cut emissions.

Heidelberg Materials told AFP that its operations comply with German law and that companies should not face differing standards applied retroactively. RWE described the lawsuit as another attempt to move climate policy demands into German courtrooms, arguing that firms should not face retroactive civil liability for emissions that were permitted and regulated by the state. The civil proceedings are expected to take years, but the farmers say they are pursuing the case for justice and want the companies they hold responsible for their losses to be held accountable.