A quarter of all climate change-related lawsuits since the 1980s have been filed in the past two years, according to a new study Thursday, which shows an increase in lawsuits against governments, fossil-fuel companies and a growing number of other companies.
The report, which underscores the growing role of the courts in climate action, comes on the same day the United States Supreme Court ruled that the government’s main environmental agency cannot enact comprehensive limits on greenhouse gases, dealing a blow to climate policy and means environmental protection.
From legal efforts to get governments to do more to curb emissions to lawsuits over companies making misleading green claims, climate lawsuits are increasing in number, scope and ambition, say experts at the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics.
Their report found that of the roughly 2,000 court cases filed since 1986, 475 have been initiated since early 2020.
“We’re likely to see more and more growth,” said Catherine Higham, co-author of the report, a policy analyst at the Grantham Research Institute.
She added that there are a growing number of cases where applicants are aiming to bring about sweeping policy or behavior change.
Most cases are brought against governments, with perhaps the most successful being the landmark 2019 ruling in which a Dutch Supreme Court ruled that the Netherlands should make more ambitious cuts to its emissions.
Higham said the overwhelming consensus in climate science and broad international agreement on the serious challenges of global warming have shifted the legal battlefield to focus less on whether governments should act and more on how.
“Right now it’s actually very rare for a government to question the underlying climate science,” she told AFP.
The report found a growing number of cases targeting the production and consumption of oil, coal and gas, adding that legal action has played an “important role” in the move to phase out fossil fuels.
According to the report, more and more cases are being filed in the Global South, with claimants often questioning the development of fossil fuel projects that would “lock in” carbon pollution dependency.
Legal action against other types of companies is also increasing, with more than half of the cases involving corporate defendants in 2021 being against companies in other sectors such as food and agriculture, transport, plastics and finance.
– Deterrent effect –
But recourse to the courts can also go the other way when litigants challenge the introduction of regulations or policies that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
There are growing concerns that governments could be sued for trillions of dollars by fossil fuel companies seeking compensation for lost revenue and lost assets.
“These cases can potentially have significant regulatory chilling effects,” Higham said.
Governments could argue that companies have been aware of the need to move away from fossil fuels for decades, she said
It’s too early to say how this would play out in arbitral tribunals, she added.
“But it’s certainly true that courts, whether it’s the US Supreme Court or these tribunals, have a tremendous potential influence on the direction of climate policy, and it can go both ways,” she said.
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