German farmer family sues government over climate inaction

A farmer family from Germany has sued the federal government for failing to take adequate climate action and damaging the family’s economic livelihood, the newspaper Tagesspiegel reports. The extreme drought in large parts of Germany in 2018 has caused the Schwienhorst family from Brandenburg severe crop losses and the family concluded that the government’s decision to scrap its own 2020 emissions reduction goal testifies to the indifference policymakers show towards the consequences global warming has on the daily life of citizens. “We don’t want financial compensation,” says farmer Heiner Schwienhorst, adding that he hopes the lawsuit will help to “initiate a policy development that I’d like to see.” The Schwienhorst family is joined by other plaintiffs from Germany and assisted legally by lawyer Roda Verheyen, who has also helped a farmer from Peru to successfully bring a lawsuit against energy company RWE over global warming to court. 

See the CLEW dossier on Emission from food and farming in Germany for more information.