Indonesia islanders visit Switzerland to discuss climate crisis and Holcim lawsuit  

A group of Indonesians travelled to Switzerland this week to explain how the climate crisis is slowly killing their tiny island: Pulau Pari. Islanders have filed a climate case in a Swiss court against the cement maker Holcim, which they claim is doing "too little" to cut carbon emissions. 

Edi and Asmania were chosen by other villagers to travel to Switzerland to discuss their island’s case.  

Pulau Pari, located 30km northwest of the capital Jakarta, is slowly dying. It has been repeatedly flooded as global warming has driven up sea levels. As a result, islanders’ houses, streets and businesses have been damaged. The flooding has also affected the income of locals who live from fishing and tourism.  

For the islanders there is no doubt: climate-related disasters look set to become increasingly frequent in the years ahead. And the worsening situation threatens the very existence of the island and its 1,500 inhabitants. 

In July 2022, a civil case was initiated by four residents of Pari. This was followed by informal negotiations in October which failed, according to the Swiss Church Aid (HEKS/EPER), prompting the formal submission of the complaint to a Zug court on January 30, 2023. 

The case is the first filing against a Swiss company and demands “proportional compensation” from Holcim. NGOs backing the complainants said they had singled out Holcim, which is based in Zug, because the company was one of the major carbon dioxide emitters worldwide and the largest so-called “carbon major” in Switzerland. 

Accompanied by their translators, Edi and Asmania met this week with representatives of the NGO that supports them and federal parliamentarians. 

The Indonesians are demanding a rapid reduction in CO2 emissions and financial compensation from Holcim. 

On Pulau Pari, which has already lost 11% of its surface area, work has started to try to prevent the flooding. But the inhabitants must finance the protection measures themselves. The islanders also want Swiss politicians to assume their responsibilities for what is happening on the other side of the world. 

In November 2022, at the end of UN climate talks (COP27) the international community adopted a resolution calling for the creation of a dedicated fund to finance the climate damage already suffered by “particularly vulnerable” countries. HEKS believes politicians can influence the Federal Council to makes greater contributions to this fund. 

In reply for a request for comment, Holcim repeated its position that climate action remains a top priority in its strategy.  

Commenting on the legal case in January, the world’s top cement-maker said: “We do not believe that court cases focused on single companies are an effective mechanism to tackle the global complexity of climate action”.