Study: Holding Governments & Corporations Accountable for Climate Crisis 'Has Become Global'
Study Finds Holding Governments and Corporations Legally Accountable for Climate Crisis 'Has Become a Global Phenomenon.' Climate action and liability cases have been filed in at least 28 countries. Common Dreams, July 4, 2019.
An analysis published Thursday details how lawsuits that aim to push governments to more ambitiously the address climate emergency and make polluting corporations pay for the damage caused by their sizable contributions to the global warming are growing in popularity around the world. "The number of countries in which people are taking climate change court action is likely to continue to rise." —Joana Setzer, report co-author
The new report from the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science—entitled Global Trends in Climate Change Litigation: 2019 Snapshot (pdf)—focuses on the 1,328 legal actions related to the climate crisis filed between 1990 and May of this year, with cases launched in more than two dozen countries.
The suits have been brought by citizens, non-governmental organizations, businesses, and local governments.
Summarizing the study's findings, report co-author Joana Setzer said in a statement that "holding government and businesses to account for failing to combat climate change has become a global phenomenon." People and environmental groups are forcing governments and companies into court for failing to act on climate change, and not just in the United States," said Setzer. "Now the number of countries in which people are taking climate change court action is likely to continue to rise."
Though the United States accounts for the large majority of the cases—1,023, according to the report—multiple lawsuits also have been filed in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Researchers also noted cases brought to the European Union, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights, and the U.N. Human Rights Committee.
Among the key findings from the analysis:
Climate change litigation continues to expand across jurisdictions as a tool to strengthen climate action, though more evidence of its impact is needed;
Climate change cases have been brought in at least 28 countries around the world, and of the recorded cases more than three quarters have been filed in the United States;
Most defendants are governments but lawsuits are increasingly targeting the highest greenhouse-gas-emitting companies;
Climate change-related claims are also being pursued by investors, activist shareholders, cities, and states; and
Climate change litigation in low- and middle-income countries is growing in quantity and importance.
The report spotlights some high-profile lawsuits, such as Urgenda Foundation v. State of the Netherlands, "the first case to argue successfully for the adoption of stricter emissions reduction targets by a government." Another landmark case that has garnered global attention is Juliana v. United States, which was heard in June before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Oregon...More.
More, https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/07/04/study-finds-holding-governments-and-corporations-legally-accountable-climate-crisis
- Youth climate activists attend the Minnesota March for Science held in St. Paul in April 2017.