Small farmers in Sindh, supported by the HANDS Welfare Foundation, have taken their struggle for climate justice to German courts as they seek accountability and reparations from major industrial emitters. Although Pakistan contributes less than one percent of global carbon emissions, communities in Larkana and Jacobabad suffered devastating losses in the 2022 floods that researchers tie to a warming climate driven by industrial emissions.
Legal action has been initiated against two of Germany’s largest carbon-emitting companies, RWE and Heidelberg Materials, with technical and legal support from German NGOs Medico International and ECCHR. The litigants and their supporters argue that global industrial emissions were a contributing factor to the extreme rainfall and flood impacts that destroyed crops, livestock and livelihoods in rural Sindh.
Baseline research documenting the 2022 losses identifies smallholder families whose incomes and food security were wiped out. That research forms the basis of claims that these corporations bear responsibility to compensate affected farming families, and that such redress is a necessary element of climate justice for communities bearing the brunt of impacts they did not cause.
The case is framed not only as compensation for local loss but as a test of corporate accountability with international implications. Advocates say a successful outcome would set a precedent requiring profit-making polluters either to significantly reduce emissions or to fund reparations for vulnerable populations harmed by their contributions to global warming.
For Pakistan, where weak governance and limited infrastructure can turn natural hazards into humanitarian crises, the litigation underscores how global emissions translate into local suffering. Supporters of the farmers stress that holding RWE and Heidelberg Materials to account is an act of justice for those who lost lives and livelihoods in Sindh.
For further details contact the HANDS Welfare Foundation and partner organisations handling the legal and research efforts on behalf of the affected communities.
