I’m suing a polluter 5,000 miles away — victory could change the world. As floods from a melting glacier threaten his home, a man in the Andes is seeking damages from thousands of miles away. If he wins, he won’t be the last

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1. Next week Lliuya is taking the German energy giant RWE to court in a test case that will be closely watched around the world. In a court in the west German city of Hamm, his lawyers will argue that RWE, which has been burning fossil fuels since 1898, is responsible for 0.47 per cent of the global warming threatening Huaraz.

   Supported by the NGO Germanwatch, he is asking the company to pay for 0.47 per cent of the cost of defending the city with a dyke to divert flood waters from the lake — a contribution of about €17,000. It is a symbolic sum, a token of responsibility. But it could pave the way for trillions of dollars in similar claims.

   “This is a really pivotal decision,” said Murray Worthy, senior research analyst at Zero Carbon Analytics. If the judges in Hamm rule that a single company can be held financially responsible for the consequences of its actions on the other side of the world, it could unlock the floodgates of litigation.

   There are already 43 cases in process worldwide in which damages are being sought for the consequences of climate change — most notably a case brought by the city of Honolulu in Hawaii against a group of oil companies including Shell, Sunoco, ExxonMobil, BP and Chevron

2. > if he wins he won’t be the last

   which is why he won’t.

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