What is Climate Litigation?
Climate litigation leverages legal precedent, legislation or regulation to bring a case against any entity engaging in practices detrimental to the environment and climate.
The State of California has sued ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips and Chevron for future climate damages. The case is modelled on those against “Big Tobacco”, targeting their deception, misinformation, and fossil fuel risk minimisation.
These cases are influenced by the system of law they exist in. Common law systems (UK, Republic of Ireland) are based on judicial precedent – past cases and their verdicts. Civil law systems such as the EU are based on codified, referable statutes.
Sources: Washington University St Louis
Why is Climate Litigation so important?
Climate litigation is Cathedral Thinking – taking action with the longer term goal of systemic change (see our posts on Climate Approaches).
Climate cases can establish judicial precedent in common law. In civil law, by using existing legislation and regulation, cases can ensure adherence to and strengthening of the rules.
Government led cases against private organisations like in California are infrequent – though they can be significant in scale and impact. In most cases, non-profit organisations facilitate and act as representative of community interests.
ClientEarth
ClientEarth, founded in 2008 by James Thornton, is an environmental law charity with over 250 legal professionals, policy experts, and scientists in eight global offices.
They concentrate on reshaping the system through informing, implementing, and enforcing the law, policy guidance to decision-makers, and the training of legal and judicial professionals.
Case Study
In 2022, ClientEarth took the UK Government to the High Court, arguing that their net zero strategy breached the Climate Change Act.
In partnership with Friends of the Earth and Good Law Project, they argued that its policies were insufficient to meet legally binding carbon budgets, and that information provided did not facilitate effective scrutiny of effects of the strategy. They won the case, forcing the UK Government to re-evaluate its strategy and make the required changes.
Sources: ClientEarth, ClientEarth
Friends of the Irish Environment
Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) is an environmental activist, non-profit company in the Republic of Ireland. It was started in 1997 as the founding members felt that European law was not being implemented in the Republic of Ireland.
Case Study
Climate Case Ireland, initiated by FIE, marked the first instance in the Republic of Ireland where citizens sought to hold their government accountable for climate inaction. It was a response to Ireland’s failure to meet its 2020 emissions targets and resulted in the Irish Supreme Court’s historic ruling in which the government was forced to come up with an entirely new plan on how to reduce emissions.
Sources: The World, Climate Case Ireland
Individuals -> YOU
In Northern Ireland, two brothers took legal action when their application to build a wind farm had been refused. The Planning Commissioner was found to not have considered the environmental, economic and social benefits of the wind farm, including the UK meeting its greenhouse gas emissions targets. The case was granted.
This is a powerful example of the impact an individual or community can have, particularly when considering the precedence-based common law systems of Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland.
Sources: Climate Case Chart
What do you think?
Where could climate litigation be applied local to you?
Who, where or what would you like to see face climate litigation?
What do you think are the biggest climate litigation wins?
Are there limits to the effectiveness of climate litigation?