Overview

• The court found the probability of Palcacocha lake flooding Lliuya’s Huaraz house in the next 30 years at under 1% and denied his claim for protective-measure costs.
• Judges emphasized that firms like RWE can in principle be required to mitigate climate impacts regardless of where their power plants are located.
• The eight-year litigation involved multiple expert reports, a 2022 on-site inspection in Peru and accrued legal and assessment expenses of about €800,000.
• Lliuya’s attorney, Roda Verheyen, described the decision as a milestone that will encourage similar climate liability cases against major polluters.
• The court rejected RWE’s argument that individual emitters such as motorists could be held liable, noting their contributions are too minimal to establish causation.