Residents of an Indonesian island, at risk of losing their livelihoods due to the rise in sea level and flooding, have filed a lawsuit against the parent company of Aggregate Industries seeking damages for its role in climate change. One of the plaintiffs warned:
Our existence is under threat. We want those responsible to now finally take action.
Not our problem, says Swiss cement giant Holcim:
We do not believe that court cases focused on single companies are an effective mechanism to tackle the global complexity of climate action.
Well they wouldn’t, would they? This the company that claims climate change is a "top priority", but whose cost to society in 2021 was 156 million tons of CO2 emissions – up from 146 million tons in 2020.
Holcim is one of the 50 largest emitters of CO2 out of all companies worldwide. After a fruitless conciliation hearing, the plaintiffs filed a civil suit against the company on behalf of the entire island, the existence of which is under threat, at the Cantonal Court of Zug 🇨ðŸ‡. pic.twitter.com/LKjhtYxTru
— ECCHR (@ECCHRBerlin) February 1, 2023
A decade ago lawsuits like this were nearly impossible to prove
— Justin Guay (@Guay_JG) February 1, 2023
Now climate science can directly attribute a company’s culpability. In this case .42% of damages
Hard to overstate the brave new world of financial liability this creates. Investors beware😳 https://t.co/bm6lkZ6X5f
