Earth Today | Steady increase in climate litigation
Report shows cases more than double over five years
Published:Thursday | August 31, 2023 | 12:07 AM
THERE IS a growing number of climate-related litigation globally, a development seen by some as an important part of the effort to get countries to do what is necessary to safeguard resilience and survival, especially for those most vulnerable to climate change threats and impacts.
The revelation has come from a new report published by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Sabin Centre for Climate Change Law at Columbia University.
“Climate ambition around the world remains inadequate to meet the challenge of our climate crisis. Despite improvement in countries’ mitigation and adaptation targets, and despite numerous corporate pledges to achieve net-zero emissions in the future, the international community is still a long way from achieving the goals and objectives of the Paris Agreement,” reads the opening paragraphs of the executive summary of the Global Litigation Report: 2023 Status Review.
“In response, individuals, children and youth, women and human-rights groups, communities, Indigenous groups, non-governmental organisations, business entities, and national and subnational governments have turned to courts, tribunals, quasi-judicial bodies or other adjudicatory bodies, including special procedures of the United Nations and arbitration tribunals, seeking relief,” it added.
People have been seeking redress, the report said, through not only the “enforcement of existing climate laws” and “the integration of climate action into existing environmental, energy and natural resources laws”, but also through “orders to legislators, policymakers and business enterprises to be more ambitious and thorough in their approaches to climate change” and the “establishment of clear definitions of human rights and obligations affected by climate change”, as well as “compensation for climate harms”.
According to the report, “climate change litigation provides civil society, individuals and others with one possible avenue to address inadequate responses by governments and the private sector to the climate crisis” and they are taking it.
CASE COUNT
The report identified 2,180 cases filed in 65 jurisdictions as at December 31, 2022, up from some 884 cases in 24 jurisdictions in 2017, and 1,550 in 39 jurisdictions in 2020.
The United States has the highest number of cases, with the top 10 other jurisdictions being Australia (127), the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland (79), Germany (38), Canada (34), Brazil (30), New Zealand (26), France (22), Mexico (18), Spain (17), and Indonesia (12).
Cases counted as part of the Sabin Centre were those “before judicial and quasi-judicial bodies that involve material issues of climate change science, policy or law” and needed to have satisfied two criteria.
“First, cases must generally be brought before judicial bodies, though in some exemplary instances, matters brought before administrative or investigatory bodies are also included. Second, climate change law, policy or science must be a material issue of law or fact in the case,” the report explained.
“Cases that make only a passing reference to climate change but do not address climate-relevant laws, policies or actions in a meaningful way are omitted. In general, cases that may directly impact climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies, but do not explicitly raise climate issues, are also not included,” it added.
Local pundits, meanwhile, agree that litigation as a route to resilience is clearly on show with the growing number of cases being pursued.
“We are experiencing the impacts of climate change right now and urgent action is needed. We are seeing more and more that climate litigation is key for holding governments and private sector accountable for the climate commitments that have been made, but where action has been slow,” said Dr Theresa Rodriguez Moodie, chief executive officer for the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET).
“The impact of these cases also raises questions around what investors should be doing. While many of these cases are outside of the Caribbean, I expect that that will begin to change with time,” the JET boss added.
CLIMATE JUSTICE
Long-time climate justice advocate Indi Mclymont Lafayette agreed.
“This is an interesting development that we have to keep an eye on. It is noteworthy that many countries are seeking climate justice in the courts. This could become a complementary mechanism to the UN system as countries push to get changes that could determine their survival,” noted Mclymont Lafayette, also a gender specialist and head of the consultancy firm Change Communications.
“I am happy that small island developing states are also prepping for this option, because our survival and way of life depend on successful climate justice,” she added.