Brazil sues Shell for US$108mil over deadly 2024 floods

Brazilian prosecutors on Friday filed an unprecedented lawsuit against oil giant Shell’s subsidiary in the country, demanding US$108 million in compensation over deadly 2024 floods.

Torrential rains sparked historic flooding in southern Brazil in April and May of that year, leaving nearly 200 people dead, 500,000 more displaced and massive damages.

According to the lawsuit, Shell’s liability should match its contribution to global warming — estimated at two percent of historical global greenhouse gas emissions.

“This civil suit is aimed at holding the defendant company accountable, in terms of its environmental and climate-related responsibilities, for collective material and moral damages stemming from the extreme weather event that hit Rio Grande do Sul state,” public prosecutors said, according to court documents seen by AFP.

They said the British energy giant should be held responsible because of its past and current greenhouse gas emissions associated with exploration, production and sale of fossil fuels.

The US$108 million in compensation accounts for both material and moral damages.

The filing of a new climate-related suit by Brazilian prosecutors — in conjunction with Instituto Preservar, a Brazilian NGO — marks a new phase in the global battle in the courts against oil giants.

“This is the first time a national public prosecutor is suing an oil major for a climate disaster,” Maria Antonia Tigre, the director of global climate litigation at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, told AFP.

Shell is already being sued in the United Kingdom by victims of a typhoon in the Philippines.