Loopa Finance Backs Landmark Environmental Lawsuit Against AES Andes in Chile

In one of Latin America’s most significant climate justice cases to date, Loopa Finance has announced it is funding a major civil lawsuit against AES Andes, the operator of Chile’s Ventanas thermoelectric complex, over alleged widespread environmental and human health damages. The case, Arellano v. Empresa Eléctrica Ventanas SpA (No. C-8595-2025), was filed before the 18th Civil Court of Santiago and could set a precedent for large-scale environmental claims supported by litigation funding in emerging markets.

The claims are anchored in a 2024 scientific report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, which for the first time establishes a direct causal link between emissions from the Ventanas industrial complex and more than 500 deaths, 1,000 respiratory emergencies, and USD 1.4 billion in economic losses across the Valparaíso region. The pollutants—PM2.5, NO₂, and SO₂—were found to have affected communities up to 300 kilometers away, reaching Santiago.

Loopa Finance, a litigation and arbitration funder active across Latin America and Europe, will finance the legal action brought on behalf of more than 1,000 residents of the so-called “sacrifice zones” of Quintero and Puchuncaví, areas associated with toxic exposure and industrial contamination. The plaintiffs are represented by attorney Miguel Fredes, director of Chile’s Climate Defense Program and a veteran environmental advocate.

“This is a landmark case. We now have compelling evidence, concrete data, and a strong legal strategy,” said Federico Muradas, Investment Manager at Loopa Finance. “We are backing this litigation because we believe in effective and restorative environmental justice.”

The lawsuit seeks three structural remedies: full environmental remediation, comprehensive victim compensation, and the definitive closure and relocation of the Ventanas complex. It also builds on a 2023 Chilean Supreme Court ruling that criticised the government’s decontamination plan for violating the “polluter pays” principle and on findings by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, which deemed the area a serious threat to residents’ health.

As Latin American courts show greater willingness to recognise environmental harms backed by scientific evidence, the Ventanas litigation could mark a turning point—demonstrating how third-party funding can mobilise complex, data-driven environmental claims that might otherwise remain out of reach for affected communities.