A legal complaint has been filed in a Swiss court against the world’s top cement maker Holcim by Several Indonesian residents on allegations that it is doing “too little” to cut carbon emissions, a statement by civil society groups backing the complainants showed on Tuesday.
According to the spokesperson for the cement company, climate change remains a top priority for Holcim and it is at the heart of the company’s strategy.
“We do not believe that court cases focused on single companies are an effective mechanism to tackle the global complexity of climate action,” he was quoted as saying.
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The civil case was first initiated in July last year by four residents of the Indonesian island of Pari, which has been repeatedly flooded as global warming has driven up sea levels. Informal negotiations in October failed, thereby prompting the formal submission of the complaint to the Zug court on Jan. 30.
The case is the first filing against a Swiss company and demands “proportional compensation” from Holcim, the statement says.
Holcim had been singled out because the company was one of the major carbon dioxide emitters worldwide and the largest so-called “carbon major” in Switzerland, NGOs backing the complainants were quoted as saying. But its website says that it is committed to decarbonising buildings and updated its climate targets in 2022.
Story was adapted from Reuters.
