A Patient Peruvian

9 years ago, Saúl Luciano Lliuya filed a lawsuit against a German energy company for its contribution to climate change. The court's latest decision was expected Monday.

So far, the glacier has held. No new ice avalanches have crashed into the lake below. If one did, it could quickly cause Lake Palcacocha to overflow, flooding Huaraz, a Peruvian city of fifty-thousand residents.

Palcacocha Lake in 2013. Two safety dams can be seen. The dam on the right contains drainage pipes. Photo credit: César A. Portocarrero Rodríguez, The Mountain Institute

In 1941, a mudflow into the lake did the same thing, flooding the city and killing many thousands of people. At the time, the lake contained an estimated 10 million cubic meters (m³) of water. Only about 0.5 million m³ of water remained after the flood. In 2014, the lake’s volume was estimated to contain about 34 times that amount, or around 17 million m³. Today, the estimate is even higher. Because of climate change, the glacier that feeds the lake is disappearing, melting into the lake.

The safety dam on Palcacocha Lake as construction was being completed in 1974 (left) and with ice debris following the 2003 landslide that launched a flood that was mostly contained by the dam. Left photo: César Portocarrero. Right: Glaciology Unit Office Archives, USAID

The increasing likelihood of another catastrophic flood prompted Huaraz resident Saúl Luciano Lliuya — together with a local non-profit, Germanwatch — to file a lawsuit in 2015 against energy giant RWE, one of Europe’s largest carbon dioxide (CO₂) emitters. Lliuya is seeking funds to pay for additional adaptation measures: a dike to divert the water’s flow.

Palcacocha Lake in 2013 showing the siphon pipes entering (left) and exiting the tunnel under the dam. Photo credit: John Harlin

RWE doesn’t operate in Peru. But climate change is global. So Lliuya calculated RWE is responsible for about 0.5% of the world’s additional CO₂ since industrialization. Thus, he’s seeking 0.5% of the cost of the proposed dike, around €20,000, from RWE.

It’s uncertain how much longer Saúl Luciano Lliuya will have to wait for the court’s decision, which was expected on April 14. An announcement from the Higher Regional Court of Hamm (German) said the decision announcement was postponed until May 28.

"Grund für die Verlegung ist ein Befangenheitsantrag der Prozessbevollmächtigten des Klägers gegen den Sachverständigen Prof. Dr.-Ing. Katzenbach."

The reason for the postponement is a motion for disqualification filed by the plaintiff's legal representatives against the expert witness Prof. Dr.-Ing. Katzenbach.

Attempting to shield energy companies from similar legal actions in the United States, President Trump issued an executive order last week to the U.S. Attorney General to take action against states that are trying to make polluters pay for climate-related damage. Several such court cases and state-based legislative actions have been underway for years. But this was expected from Trump. He’s been sounding off against climate change even longer than Saúl Luciano Lliuya has been waiting for his lawsuit: In January, 2014, well before he announced running for President, Trump tweeted, “This very expensive GLOBAL WARMING bullshit has got to stop. Our planet is freezing, record low temps,and (sic.) our GW scientists are stuck in ice.”

Purposefully conflating climate change with weather is what anti-science politicians do.

But adapting to global warming is going to be very expensive.

Lliuya’s case may soon show the world how to pay for it.

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As many scientists have said, it’s impossible to adapt our way out of climate change. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions has to be part of the solution. Yesterday, banks took a step backwards. But researchers are starting to show pollution markets can work — simultaneously reducing pollution and increasing industry profits — with an example of such a market in India that has been in operation for five years.

What’s working to reduce pollution in your habitat?