"2020 was a mixed year for climate litigation" 4 January 2021

For campaigners taking legal measures to force urgent action on the climate emergency, December 2019 marked a high point. Judges in the Dutch Supreme Court ordered the government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions immediately. This was the first time citizens had established that their government had a legal duty to prevent dangerous climate change. 

The Norwegian case is also an example of a growing trend for cases that are brought by young people and based on human rights. [...]

Another trend is for legal action to be taken against large fossil fuel companies, the 47 so-called carbon majors. These cases are based on the science of attribution. The field has evolved such that impacts including sea-level rise, melting permafrost and ocean acidification can now be attributed to anthropogenic climate change with high confidence, according to a paper by the Sabin Center. Once the attribution of the impact has been established, it can also be attributed to specific emission sources on a proportional basis.

Louise Fournier, Greenpeace International’s litigation counsel for climate justice and liability, pointed to a major case in the Philippines as the first such case of this type against the carbon majors. It was launched by the Philippines Commission on Human Rights (CHR) following a 2015 complaint by Greenpeace Southeast Asia and survivors of Typhoon Haiyan – one of the most powerful ever recorded. They wanted an investigation into the possible human rights violations of the carbon majors resulting from climate change. 

The CHR said in its initial opinion in December 2019 that these companies could be found legally and morally liable for the harm. It added that there may be grounds to hold companies accountable under civil and criminal laws because companies continued to extract and market fossil fuels despite knowing the harm. A final resolution is likely at the beginning of 2021, according to Fournier. 

“The impact of this resolution will be huge, and a precedent for other corporate accountability cases around the world. It’s an example of how this trend of using litigation against carbon majors will continue to grow as the science of attribution strengthens,” she said. [...]