US EditionSwiss Court to Hear Landmark Climate Case by Indonesian Island Residents Against Cement Giant
The plaintiffs seek CHF 3,600 each and demand Holcim cut emissions by 43% by 2030, linking the cement firm to climate impacts threatening their island.
- On Dec 22, a cantonal court in Zug, Switzerland admitted a climate complaint by four residents of Pari island, Indonesia against Holcim, Swiss cement maker, NGOs including Swiss Church Aid said Monday.
- Four residents of Pari island filed the complaint in January 2023 after repeated flooding, with environmentalists saying 11 percent of the 42-hectare island has disappeared and plaintiffs blaming Holcim despite its 2019 divestment and the cement industry's 7% global CO2 emissions.
- The plaintiffs seek 3,600 Swiss francs each and demand a 43% reduction in Holcim's emissions by 2030, while Holcim aims for net zero by 2050 and has cut direct CO2 by over 50% since 2015.
- Both sides received the ruling before Monday's publication and can still appeal, and Holcim said it intends to appeal, with two islanders who traveled for a September hearing supporting the decision, NGOs said.
- The case forms part of a wider international push to expand corporate liability, NGOs including Swiss Church Aid said this is Switzerland's first climate litigation against a large firm.
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"For the first time in Switzerland, a court declares a case against a multinational company in connection with climate change admissible," the NGOs announced.
Swiss court to hear islanders' climate change case against cement giant
Residents of the tiny Indonesian island of Pari, which risks being swallowed by rising seas, win the right to have their have their climate change case against cement giant Holcim heard in a Swiss court.
A Swiss court has agreed to consider a dispute for climatic damage between the inhabitants of an Indonesian island, threatened by rising waters, and the Swiss cement giant Holcim.
A court in Switzerland has admitted a lawsuit against the cement group Holcim, in which the group is given a co-responsibility for climate change.
The island paradise Pari fights against floods – now the dispute about CO2 emissions is going to a Swiss court. The plaintiffs speak of a stage victory.
The Indonesian island of Pari is at risk of rising sea levels. Inhabitants in Switzerland are suing a building material company whose CO2 emissions are to endanger the island.
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