Pakistan flood-hit farmers move climate justice case in Germany against top polluters

Karachi [Pakistan], December 19 (ANI): Farmers affected by Pakistan's catastrophic 2022 floods announced plans to move a climate justice claim in Germany against two leading global carbon emitters, asserting that the scale of devastation highlighted Pakistan's severe exposure to climate change impacts, though it contributes just one per cent to global greenhouse gas emissions, according to Dawn.
The decision was announced at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club by farmer claimants Hamza Khan Kalhoro, Abdul Hafeez Khoso and Abdul Khaliq Leghari, representing flood-ravaged areas of Larkana, Jacobabad and Dadu.
The organisers said the farmers are set to initiate climate accountability proceedings in Germany against two companies listed among the world's largest carbon dioxide emitters.
Details shared at the briefing indicated that the legal action would be filed under German civil law and anchored in the polluter pays principle, with the farmers seeking compensation for climate impacts that played a role in the 2022 disaster, Dawn reported.
The farmers said the floods wiped out crops, livestock and housing, leaving thousands of agricultural families trapped in long-term economic distress.
They pointed out that Pakistan contributes less than one per cent to global greenhouse gas emissions but continues to bear a disproportionate burden of climate-driven extreme weather.
On this basis, they said entities with a history of high emissions must be held responsible for climate-related loss and damage.
They said the claim would be filed against RWE and Heidelberg Materials.
They added that 43 farmers from Sindh are part of the case and are seeking compensation for losses suffered during the 2022 floods, Dawn reported.
National Trade Union Federation leader Nasir Mansoor said climate change should be viewed as both a livelihood and labour rights concern, noting that repeated climate shocks are weakening rural employment and endangering food security.
He said the absence of climate-resilient policies was intensifying inequality and pushing working communities further into poverty, while backing the farmers' move to take legal action.
Shaikh Tanveer Ahmed of the HANDS Welfare Foundation said the 2022 floods were not a "natural disaster alone" but were linked to global warming.
"Our farmers are paying the price for emissions they did not cause," he said, stressing the need for accountability from major polluters and compensation for affected communities.
Speaking from Germany over the phone, constitutional lawyer and European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights representative Miriam Saage-Maab said the case seeks to bring the voices of flood-hit communities into international legal spaces.
Karin Zennig of Medico International, Germany, said the case forms part of a broader global push to demand accountability for climate harm through courts, adding that climate litigation is increasingly connecting climate science, human rights and justice, Dawn reported.
Those present at the press conference urged the international community to address climate-induced loss and damage as a matter of justice and responsibility. (ANI)