In recent decades, carbon emission mitigation efforts have faced significant challenges in implementing sustainable solutions to the climate crisis. The rapid expansion of large corporations, driven by fossil fuel consumption and other greenhouse gas-emitting practices, demands urgent intervention. However, many existing policies and regulations have failed to bring about meaningful reductions in environmental destruction. Advancing bold climate activism is crucial to promoting large-scale climate restoration before these harmful effects become irreversible. One such approach is climate change litigation, which leverages legal action as a powerful tool in the fight against climate change.
Climate change affects all aspects of modern society, threatening not only the environment we live in but also the social, political, and economic systems that shape our daily lives. As climate conditions continue to worsen, legal action is essential to holding major carbon emitters accountable and driving systemic change toward sustainability. Viewing climate injustices through this lens enables the law to enforce responsibility and foster broader societal shifts toward a greener, more sustainable future.
Globally, climate litigation is becoming more and more prevalent. Citizens and organizations share a responsibility to use litigation as climate action through court cases, legal or regulatory complaints, and other methods. Both large-scale international commitments such as the Paris Climate Agreement as well as smaller-scale initiatives including local planning and home insulation schemes both play a vital role in advocating systematic change. New laws and policies are being enacted to address opposing aspects of climate destruction, and evolving trends and strategies represent these parallels, three being of the most significance as sourced by ClientEarth Communications:
Litigation brought against governments to hold them accountable for climate – including the increasing number of human rights-related claims
Litigation brought against corporate actors – increasingly this includes banks and companies outside of the oil and gas sector
Litigation brought on the basis of ‘greenwashing’, or misleading green promises – and increasing concerns of the accountability gap between net zero ambition, or plans for Paris alignment and reality
Implementations of climate lawsuits have been growing in the events of worsening climate conditions. For example, as of September 2024, Zero Carbon Analytics reported that 86 climate lawsuits have been filed against the world’s largest oil, gas, and coal producing corporations – each year nearly tripling the number of lawsuits filed since the Paris Agreement was reached in 2015. More than half of all cases have been brought in the U.S. (58%), with another 24% of cases brought in Europe. The distribution of cases geographically represents a combination of the judicial and legislative frameworks of the countries, the location where the fossil fuel companies are headquartered, and the resources of potential claimants. Similarly, 65% of cases are in the U.S. representing the distribution of all climate cases not limited to those against fossil fuel companies. There is a predicted rise in climate litigation cases, as shown in the figure:
What an amazing post! I have been waiting for someone to mention the lawsuit between companies and green acts. As we mentioned in class, one of the ways that we can reduce carbon emissions is through lawsuits to try and stop people from taking advantage of clean air sources.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post! I personally have not thought about the litigation part of climate change and how the courts might play a role. It is crazy to think about these lawsuits and the lack of accountability despite the people wanting there to be.
ReplyDeleteThe rise of climate litigation serves as a crucial mechanism for holding major carbon emitters accountable, driving systemic change, and promoting sustainable practices, as evidenced by the significant increase in lawsuits targeting fossil fuel companies and their financial liabilities for climate-related damages.
ReplyDeleteI found this post to be well arranged and informative, I hope to see many lawsuits with climate change as their focus in the near future hopefully in order to no longer have to fight for these massive corporations to respect and think about the long term stability of the planet in which they are taking resources from
ReplyDeleteI really liked the graphics you use in this post to illustrate the increase in litigation! I feel like one of the most important affects of climate litigation is not only its punitive achievements but the moral tone it establishes. Litigation not only causes consequences for polluters but also asserts that we have a right to a safe Earth.
ReplyDeleteGreat post showing us how climate change effects much more then just our environment but society as a whole. This made me think of the mass migration as a survival strategy
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Rosey! Climate lawsuits are becoming a powerful tool in holding big polluters accountable. With more cases being filed each year, do you think legal action will push companies to take real climate responsibility, or will they just find ways to avoid it? Also, how can everyday people support these efforts and make a real impact?
ReplyDeleteI hope to see positive outcomes from environmental workers fighting for the environment with lawsuits. It is important to get the truth out there.
ReplyDeleteWe talked about this a little bit in class today, but I'm curious as to what they'll actually be held accountable for. Do you know if there are any legal precedents that can point to that answer?
ReplyDeleteI have taken environmental law classes and I'm glad you have brought notice to this and what I have learned is that it gets really difficult to nail these big industries down on their environmental damages, but gotta keep trying.
ReplyDeleteI agree with other commenters that this is a well done post. To start to address Andrew's question - there is a long history of the development of corporate responsibility in the common law. If a company creates a harmful product they can be sued for damages.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of when citizens and lawyers tried to give legal rights to Lake Erie. It was only a few years ago when a federal judge called it unconstitutional and that was the end.
ReplyDeleteI found the concept that litigation has resulted in an increase in greenwashing tactics to be very interesting. I did not expect it to have this effect but I can see how making empty promises and statements could be an easy way out of facing actual monetary responsibility. Hopefully has the field of climate/environmental litigation expands we will see a reduction in such tactics.
ReplyDeleteThis is a highly informative and important blog post! I remember we talked about this in class, and how to see some sort of change within the higher-ups of oil companies we need to see more lawsuits against them.
ReplyDeleteIt's so interesting to think about the action being taken against these big companies. Great post!
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