Global InformationClimate change litigation information
Climate change litigation, also known as climate litigation, is an emerging body of environmental law using legal practice to set case law precedent to further climate change mitigation efforts from public institutions, such as governments and companies. In the face of slow climate change politics delaying climate change mitigation, activists and lawyers have increased efforts to use national and international judiciary systems to advance the effort. Climate litigation typically engages in one of five types of legal claims:[2] Constitutional law (focused on breaches of constitutional rights by the state),[3] administrative law (challenging the merits of administrative decision making), private law (challenging corporations or other organizations for negligence, nuisance, etc., fraud or consumer protection (challenging companies for misrepresenting information about climate impacts), or human rights (claiming that failure to act on climate change is a failure to protect human rights).[4]
Since the early 2000s, the legal frameworks for combating climate change have increasingly been available through legislation, and an increasing body of court cases have developed an international body of law connecting climate action to legal challenges, related to constitutional law, administrative law, private law, consumer protection law or human rights.[2] Many of the successful cases and approaches have focused on advancing the needs of climate justice and the youth climate movement.[5] Since 2015, there has been a trend in the use of human rights arguments in climate lawsuits,[6] in part due to the recognition of the right to a healthy environment in more jurisdictions and at the United Nations.[7]
High-profile climate litigation cases brought against states include Leghari v. Pakistan,[8] Juliana v. United States (both 2015), Urgenda v. The Netherlands (2019), and Neubauer v. Germany (2021),[9][10][11][12] while Milieudefensie v Royal Dutch Shell (2021) is the highest-profile case against a corporation to date.[13] Investor-owned coal, oil, and gas corporations could be legally and morally liable for climate-related human rights violations, even though political decisions could prevent them from engaging in such violations.[14][15] Litigations are often carried out via collective pooling of effort and resources such as via organizations like Greenpeace, such as Greenpeace Poland which sued a coal utility[16] and Greenpeace Germany which sued a car manufacturer.[17]
There is a growing trend of activist cases successfully being won in global courts.[18][19][20] The 2017 UN Litigation Report identified 884 cases in 24 countries, including 654 cases in the United States and 230 cases in all other countries combined. As of July 1, 2020, the number of cases has almost doubled to at least 1,550 climate change cases filed in 38 countries (39 including the courts of the European Union), with approximately 1,200 cases filed in the US and over 350 filed in all other countries combined.[21] By December 2022, the number had grown to 2,180, including 1,522 in the U.S.[22] The number of litigation cases is expected to continue rising in the 2020s.[23]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Kaminskiwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b King; Mallett, Wood Mallesons-Daisy; Nagra, Sati (27 February 2020). "Climate change litigation - what is it and what to expect? | Lexology". www.lexology.com. Archived from the original on 2021-04-14. Retrieved 2020-09-20.
- ^ Pasquale Viola (29 March 2022). Climate Constitutionalism Momentum: Adaptive Legal Systems. Springer Nature. ISBN 978-3-03-097336-0. Archived from the original on 16 March 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
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:1was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Greenpeace Germany sues Volkswagen over carbon emissions targets". Archived from the original on 10 November 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
- ^ Peel, Jacqueline; Osofsky, Hari M. (March 2018). "A Rights Turn in Climate Change Litigation?". Transnational Environmental Law. 7 (1): 37–67. doi:10.1017/S2047102517000292. S2CID 158786536.
- ^ de Vilchez, Pau; Savaresi, Annalisa (2023-04-20). "The Right to a Healthy Environment and Climate Litigation: A Game Changer?". Yearbook of International Environmental Law. 32 (1): 3–19. doi:10.1093/yiel/yvac064. hdl:1893/34872. ISSN 0965-1721. Archived from the original on 2023-07-04. Retrieved 2023-07-04.
- ^ "Leghari v. Federation of Pakistan". Climate Case Chart. Sabin Centre for Climate Change Law. Archived from the original on 2023-02-03. Retrieved 2023-02-03.
- ^ Beauregard, Charles; Carlson, D'Arcy; Robinson, Stacy-ann; Cobb, Charles; Patton, Mykela (28 May 2021). "Climate justice and rights-based litigation in a post-Paris world". Climate Policy. 21 (5): 652–665. Bibcode:2021CliPo..21..652B. doi:10.1080/14693062.2020.1867047. ISSN 1469-3062. S2CID 233731449.
- ^ Marris, Emma (3 November 2018). "US Supreme Court allows historic kids' climate lawsuit to go forward". Nature. 563 (7730): 163–164. Bibcode:2018Natur.563..163M. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-07214-2. PMID 30401851. S2CID 53234042. Archived from the original on 9 November 2021. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
- ^ Viglione, Giuliana (28 February 2020). "Climate lawsuits are breaking new legal ground to protect the planet". Nature. 579 (7798): 184–185. Bibcode:2020Natur.579..184V. doi:10.1038/d41586-020-00175-5. PMID 32157222. S2CID 212654628. Archived from the original on 8 November 2021. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
- ^ "Constitutional complaints against the Federal Climate Change Act partially successful". www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de. Bundesverfassungsgericht. Archived from the original on 2023-02-03. Retrieved 2023-02-03.
- ^ "Shell: Netherlands court orders oil giant to cut emissions". BBC News. 26 May 2021. Archived from the original on 19 September 2023. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
- ^ "Science Hub for Climate Litigation | Union of Concerned Scientists". www.ucsusa.org. Archived from the original on 7 November 2021. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
- ^ "As South Africa clings to coal, a struggle for the right to breathe". Grist. 12 December 2020. Archived from the original on 7 November 2021. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
- ^ "Greenpeace threatens to sue coal utility in Poland". Climate Home News. 29 November 2018. Archived from the original on 7 November 2021. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
- ^ "Greenpeace Germany sues Volkswagen over carbon emissions targets". Reuters. 2021-11-09. Archived from the original on 2022-08-22. Retrieved 2022-08-22.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Greenpeacewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
:12was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
CPIwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Global Climate Litigation Report: 2020 Status Review" (PDF). UN environment programme. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-01-26.
- ^ United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law (2023). "Global Climate Litigation Report / 2023 Status Review" (PDF). p. XIV. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 July 2023.
- ^ Kaminski, Isabella (4 January 2023). "Why 2023 will be a watershed year for climate litigation". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 3 February 2023.