Climate Litigation
Posted on 08 Jun 21
by Mark Hodgson
Recently the media have been full of stories about climate litigation. In the last few weeks alone, we have seen reports of a claim brought in Guyana by an indigenous tourist guide and a university lecturer claiming that (to quote the Guardian report):
“Guyana’s approval of oil exploration licences violates the government’s legal duty to protect their right and the right of future generations to a healthy environment. It is the first constitutional climate case in the Caribbean to challenge fossil fuel production on climate and human rights grounds.”
Also a class action in Australia, brought by eight High School students, where the Court found that the Australian federal environment minister has a duty to take reasonable care not to cause young people injury from the harms of climate change (at least, that’s how the Guardian reported it).
And of course a Dutch court recently ordered Shell to cut carbon emissions from its oil and gas by 45% by 2030.
https://cliscep.com/2021/06/08/__trashed-2/#comment-155848