"Could governments and oil companies get sued for inaction on climate change?", 23 May 2017

…“[C]limate change litigation”…is in its infancy, but many feel it will inevitably make an impact, given the estimated costs of new infrastructure and economic disturbances expected from climate change…

[A] paper [by Policy Horizons Canada] outlines how large emitters like oil and gas companies, as well as governments, could be taken to court over alleged inaction on climate change…

Climate litigation is already happening in other parts of the world…

In Germany, a Peruvian farmer is reportedly appealing a decision to reject his lawsuit against energy company RWE, which he accuses of increasing the threat of flooding from a glacial lake near his home in the Andes.

There is also a case in the Philippines involving Greenpeace, which is arguing that the world’s largest oil companies are violating the human rights of local people because of the rising incidences of extreme weather…

Gage, who is a staff counsel with West Coast Environmental Law, believes it is only a matter of time before such a case lands in Canadian court…

Wood [of the Environmental Justice and Sustainability Clinic at Osgoode Hall] outlined the various legal avenues for a prospective climate litigation case in [Canada]…

[Also refers to Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Shell]