‘Slow traveling’ climate researcher lost his job. Now he’s suing.

An Italian social scientist and climate activist is suing his employer for requiring him to make a speedy return from a work trip — travel he says he eschewed for its impact on the planet.

Instead of boarding a plane to travel from Papua New Guinea to Germany, Gianluca Grimalda, who says he has been “slow traveling” for 15 years to minimize his carbon footprint, hitched a 72-day ride across 16 countries on cargo ships, ferries, trains and buses.

Grimalda said his employer, the Germany-based Kiel Institute for the World Economy, responded by firing him from his job as a senior researcher.

On Thursday, Grimalda will appear at the Labor Court in Kiel to plead what he says is the first-known case of an employee losing their job for refusing to fly.