Lawyer Up for Climate
Climate lawsuits are a growing and dynamic component of global climate action
The InterAmerican Court of Human Rights just announced that it intends to tell countries what their legal obligations are regarding climate change within the framework of international human rights.
The Court has an opportunity to make clear that States must act to eliminate the known causes of that devastation by ending reliance on fossil fuels.
— Nikki Reisch, the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)
Need-to-Know: European governments are being sued over lack of climate action
Meanwhile, 32 European governments are also being sued at the European Court of Human Rights for failure to adequately address global warming. The court's rulings are legally binding, and failure to comply could trigger substantial fines. The case could be decided this year.
A favorable judgement would be seismic.
Need-to-Know: Companies and countries are losing climate cases
There are over 2540 climate lawsuits filed worldwide against companies and countries, including 184 new cases last year. This is a relatively new area of law but it is growing fast, and there have been a few wins. For example:
In a world first, The Netherlands Supreme Court ruled that the government had to do more to meet the Paris Agreement goal. The Dutch government was forced to improve its climate plan and meet a target of a 49% emission reduction by 2030.
German courts have also ruled that Germany must accelerate its decarbonization efforts. There are similar cases in nearly 10 other countries.
Belgium must lower its emissions by 55% compared to 1990, and do so by 2030. There is a penalty of 1 million euros per month for failure.
A Dutch court has mandated Shell make a 45% cut in its upstream and downstream carbon emissions by 2030.
In 2023, airlines—KLM, Delta, and United— along with Nike and online retailer (Etsy), are being sued for greenwashing (deceptive advertising).
U.S. states, cities and counties have filed more than 25 cases against oil and gas companies for allegedly deceiving the public about the dangers of global warming. (In 1998, major U.S. tobacco companies settled their public-deception lawsuits, and have paid U.S. states over $160 billion so far.)
Last year the state of Montana's support for a fossil fuel-based energy system was ruled a violation of the constitutional rights to a healthy environment.
Litigation presents significant risks for some of the world’s biggest carbon emitters. For example, U.S. oil and gas giant Chevron could be liable for up to $8.5 trillion alone, according to research by the Oxford Sustainable Law Programme.Â
Need-to-Know: Climate litigation is a substantial financial risk for companies, insurers and financial institutions
Last month, a suit was filed in The Netherlands against Dutch bank ING for providing financing to the fossil fuel sector. French banking griant Paribas was sued last year for the same thing.
Need-to-Know: Climate lawsuits are increasing, and increasingly winning
There will be more cases and more wins. One reasons is improvements in attribution science that can attribute specific extreme-weather events to carbon emissions, and link emissions to specific industries or companies. For example, a 2023 scientific study attributed nearly 40% of the area burned in forest fires in the western U.S. since 1986 to emissions from 88 largest fossil fuel producers and cement manufacturers.
Some other reasons for more climate lawsuits include the broadening scope of legal claims, growing legal expertise and number of precedents. Yet another reason is that every country in the world agreed to transition away from fossil fuels this decade at UN COP 28. This will be fertile grounds for new climate-litigation strategies.
A Vice Chair at the European Central Bank has recently advised banks and financial institutions to make sure their actions and decisions are aligned with keeping global warming well below 2 degrees C or else risk climate lawsuits. I quote:
The lawyers involved in these [climate] cases – be it as counsel, judges, or academics – see that urgent change is needed to protect humanity.
So lawyer-up for climate action!
Until next time, be safe.
Stephen