I - AdaptationLawandPolicy

I - ClimateLawTopics

I - ClimateLitigation

I - Ecocide

I - EnvironmentalLitigation

I - InternationalLaw

I - Litigation/LiabilityasBusinessRisk

I - PolluterPaysPrinciple

I - U.S.ConstitutionalLaw

S - Adaptation Law

S - Children's Trust Litigation

S - Climate Law General

S - Ecocide in International Law

S - International Climate Law

S - National Climate Law

S - Nuisance, Negligence, and Strict Liability

S - State and Local Climate Law

N - Business Litigation and Liability Risk

N - Business Use of Litigation and Liability

N - Ecocide

N - Evaluating Climate Litigation Strategies

N - International Law and Litigation

N - Legal Strategies for the Climate

N - National Liability

N - State and Local Law

N - U.S. Litigation

T - Climate Litigation Portals

T - Climate Litigation Websites

T - Legal Blogs

T - Legal Topics - Websites

T - Litigation and Liability Networks

V - Litigation and Liability

E - Adapt Law

E - Challenges of Climate Decisionmaking

E - Liability Risks

E - Use of Law Against Climate Change Mitigation

I - BoundingSeaLevelRise

I - CommunicatingSLR

I - Flooding

I - MeltwaterPulse

I - RealEstateValuesUnderSLR

I - SLRandMigration

I - SLREconomicImpacts

I - SLRinScenarioPlanning

I - StormSurgeandSeaLevelRise

S - Bounding Global SLR

S - Coastal SLR Adaptation/Resilience

S - Communicating SLR

S - Decision-Making Under SLR Uncertainty

S - Economics of SLR

S - Impacts of SLR

S - Regional SLR

S - Risk Assessment for SLR

S - Risk Management for SLR

S - SLR Sea Level Rise Sources - Topical

S - SLR Vulnerability

S - Storm Surge

N - Arctic Impacts

N - Flood Insurance

N - Real Estate Values and Sea Level Rise

N - SLR Adaptation

N - SLR Bounding

N - SLR Sea Level Rise News - Topical

T - Adapt SLR

T - Sea Level Rise Networks

T - SLR Sea Level Rise Visualizations

V - SLR Sea Level Rise

E - Impacts of SLR

E - Real Estate Values and SLR

T - SLR Websites, Blogs, FB Home Pages

E - Adapt Law

E - Business Risk Disclosure Topics

E - CO2 Significance Under CEQA NEPA SEPA

E - Law and Policy by Geography

E - Liability Risks

E - Necessity Defense

E - Use of Law Against Climate Change Mitigation

Climate Case Chart - U.S.

2015 Hague District Court orders Dutch Government to reduce Dutch emissions by at least 25% by 2020, a stricter requirement than in the Paris Agreement

2015 Peruvian farmer brings suit against Germany utility RWE for damages, asking compensation based on RWE’s % of global emissions from 1751 to 2010. German Appeals court held the suit admissable.

2016 Conservation Law Foundation sues Exxon based on vulnterability of an Exxon oil tank farm to storm surge and other hazards

2016 Exxon investor files securities fraud class action against Exxon based on failure to disclose recognized risks of climate change.

2017 In Sinnok v. Alaska a group of children sued the state and the Governor for pro-oil policies that exacerbate the impacts of climate change where they live

2019/12 Dutch Supreme Court rejects appeal of Government against District and Appeals Court decisions, letting a reduction requirement of 25% by 2020 stand.

2019/12 New York Court rules for Exxon in securities fraud case

2019 NGOs brought suit against French oil company Total, charging a failure to adequately report and mitigate climate risks

2020/3 Billionaire hedge fund manager threatens to sue banks for lending money to coal-mining companies

2020 Federal Appeals Court finds that Juliana v United States defendants (21 young people) lack standing for their lawsuit

2020 Federal Court of Australia declared than Minister of Environment, in approving a mining project, has a duty to take reasonable care to avoid injury or death to persons under 18.

2020 Irish Supreme Court rules that Irish National Mitigation Plan does not comply with the Irish Climate Act because too vague in specifying low carbon transition to 2050

2021/4 German Constitutional Court holds that German Federal Climate Change Act iincompatible with fundamental rights due to vagueness.

2021/4 Paris Administrative Court holds that French Government has failed to comply with commitments under the Paris Agreement. Ordered payment of 1 Euro for moral damages, and ordered action by 12/2022.

2021/5 District Court of the Hauge rules that Shell must cut emissions by 45% by 2030, in first court ruling that companies need to align policies with the Paris Agreement

2021 Cases by category of law 2017 - Jan 2021

2021 Cases by sector 2017 - Jan 2021

2021 Cases with outcomes favorable to climate action are in the majority

2021 Climate laws and policies around the world as of May 2021

2021 Federal agencies that were defendants in cases 2017 - Jan 2021

2021 Grounds of review in cases against governments 2015-2021

2021 Not all cases are aligned with climate goals

2021 Number of cases involving US federal environmental statutes

2021 Number of lawsuits around world by jurisdiction

2021 Outcomes in human rights cases

2021 Plaintiffs and petitioners in “con” cases 2027 - Jan 2021

2021 Plaintiffs and petitioners in “pro” cases 2017 - Jan 2021

2021 Proportion of cases with outcomes that are favorable, unfavorable, and neutral (cases outside US)

2021 Proportion of strategic cases over time

2021 Total climate litigation cases over time, U.S. and non-U.S.

2021 Total number recorded climate litigation cases 1986 - 2020 (US vs all other countries)

2021 Who were the defendants in cases 2017 - Jan 2021

Climate Lawsuits Vary Widely

Could the legal system's approach change?

2010 Deutsche Bank - Growth of US Climate Litigation: Trends and Consequences

2015 Bank of England Governor Mark Carney characterizes litigation risks as “significant, uncertain, and non-linear”

2015 was a key year for climate change law, including the Urgenda and Leghari cases

2021 has been an exceptional year for climate iltigation

ClientEarth files first known climate litigation case against a central bank (National Bank of Belgium)

Climate litigation has shifted from retroactive responsibility for disasters to forward-looking to prevent environmental damage

Colombia’s Supreme Court has recognised that fundamental human rights are “substantially linked and determined by the environment and the ecosystem” and that the Columbian Amazon has its own rights.

Even for those who believe that climate litigation can play an important role in bringing the world closer to a 1.5°C trajectory, there is only so much the courts can do.

In Germany the Constitutional Court recognised that “one generation must not be allowed to consume large portions of the CO2 budget while bearing a relatively minor share of the reduction effort, if this would involve leaving subsequent generations with a drastic reduction burden and expose their lives to serious losses of freedom”.

Katrina Breaches Canal Litigation

Leghari case based on constitutional protection of the right to life.

Schneider: There are tools in toolbox other than PTD that are better suited to dealing with climate change. All Dept. of Interior policies now utilize a "climate change lens"

The question remains: how much can climate change cases really contribute to climate action in Australia – and internationally – and will it be enough to turn the current disastrous climate trajectory?

The Urgenda case in the Netherlands was a watershed moment for climate litigation. It was the first time a government was found to owe a legal duty of care to protect people from climate harms.

The vast majority of climate litigation has been in the U.S., but also includes 39 other countries and international courts and tribunals

US, unlike most countries, does not have environmental protection built into its constitution

Vanuatu has launched a campaign to seek an Advisory Opinion from the world’s highest court – the International Court of Justice – on the issue of climate change and human rights.

Weller on potential of tort law for victims of climate change: “in a nutshell, causation and breach of duty cannot be established.”

Whitman: Not clear how PTD model applies to air - very different from using PTD to influence state resource management decisions

E - Adapting to Sea Level Rise

E - Decision-Making for SLR

E - Glacier Loss Impacts

E - Global vs. Local SLR

E - Impacts of SLR

E - Real Estate Values and SLR

E - SLR Uncertainties

The last 8,000 years of sea level stability correspond to civilization and infrastruture

Can do the same with this image

0000 -10000 (2016) Long term sea level rise implications of current emissions scenarios

0-2000 (2014) Sea level change over the last 2000 years

3oC - Asian cities that will be worst affected by sea level rise

200X A closer look at that 10-32 inches

1800-2100 (2017) Revised global SLR scenarios

1800-2100 projected global sea levels - not modelled

1850-2010 (2013) The growing rate of sea level rise

1870-2010 (2009) Sea level rise since 1880

1880-1990 (1996) Historic role of greenhouse gases in SLR

1880-2020 (2017) Australian sea levels rising faster since 1993

1880-2100 (2014) Global SLR to 2100 based on IPCC scenarios

1900-2100 (2012) Global SLR scenarios

1900-2100 (2012) The rate of SLR is also projected to rise

1900-2100 (2016) Scenarios developed for the Third NCA

1950-2100 (2009) Projections of SLR based on AR4 temperature projections

1970-2010 (2009) SLR happening faster than expected

1980-2010 (2013) Projected vs. actual sea level rise

1980-2100 (2012) Understanding the difference of 2oC vs. 4oC for SLR projections

1990-2005 Observed SLR vs. model projections

1990-2200 (1996) GHG forcing in w/m2 underlying SLR estimates

1990-2300 (1995 ) Cumulative contribution of climate change to SLR

1990-2300 (1996) Global temperature change associated with SLR estimates

1990-2300 (2009) Recent SLR projections

2000-2100 (1983) Estimated contribution of variables to total SLR over time

2009 Long-term relationship of temperatures and sea levels

2011 Top 20 cities for exposed population

2011 Top 20 cities for exposure assets

2011 Top 20 cities for highest proportional increase in asset exposure

2013 NOAA_What will adaptation cost

2013 Temperature changes over the last 65 million years

2013 There is a strong correlation between CO2 and sea level

2015 Historical and projected SLR

2017 It's all about probabilities

2019 CoastalDEM versus SRTM by country

2019 Global populations on land at risk

2019 Global simulated error assessment results

2019 Individual ice sheet contributions to SLR for 2100 temperature scenarios

2019 Key West sea level rise risk by 2050

2019 Median and likely range estimates of the ice sheet SLR contributions for different temperature scenarios and different studies

2019 Number of people at risk by country from a sea level rise of 1.8 meters

2019 PDFs for both temperature trajectory scenarios for combined ice sheet contributions

2019 Pearl River Delta, China and Bangladesh predictions

2019 Permanent inundation surfaces predicted by CoastalDEM and SRTM given the median sea-level projection

2019 Projected sea-level rise contributions from each ice sheet and combined

2019 Southern Florida legacy model of sea level rise risk by 2050 vs. adjusted CoastalDem map

2019 Southern Vietnam: old vs. new projection for 2050

2019 Total global-mean sea-level rise projections

2020 Estimated losses due to sea level rise

2020 Historical experience CO2 vs. temp. and SLR

2020 Impact of sea level rise

2021 Committed sea level rise as a function of long-term global temperature increase

2021 Projected sea level rise for 10 most populous coastal cities in the US with SLR of 50cm and 100cm

2050-2100 (2013) Estimates of SLR in Maryland

2050-2100 (2019) Total global mean sea-level rise projections

2050-2300 (2017) Probabilistic projections of GMSL by RCP over time

2100 (2012) Estimates of projected sea level rise have varied widely

2100 (2013) Projections of potential sea level rise

2100-2300 (2015) Expert opinion on SLR by 2100 and 2300

2100-2300 (2017) Vulnerable populations based on SLR scenarios

2100-2300 (2019) Probability distributions H and L temperature, 2011 and 2300

12000 (2016) Distribution of sea level rise in 10,000 years based on lower emissions scenario

12000 (2016) Impact on countries and cities of 10,000 year SLR projection

Components of Extreme Still and Total Water Level

Could it more than proportional

EBITDA under alternative SLR scenarios

Estimated historical SLR per century

Five global scenarios used in the report

Global temperatures have varied considerably in the past, partially due to major tectonic shifts

Historical and Projected Sea Level

In a couple of decades this will be the "normal" for New Orleans

New Orleans could be an island by 2100

Record of Sea Level Change Over Last 900,000 Years

Sea levels have risen very fast in the past - 65 ft in four centuries some 14,000 years ago

SLR can magnify storm surge magnitude

Summary of Min-Max values based on regional adjustments

The primary causes of global SLR

To look at sea level change, need to look over time

Top 20 cities for exposure, 2010 and 2070

Total water levels for selected extreme events in the U.S.

1. Rely on the IPCC (10-32 inches) or National Climate Assessment (1-4 feet)?

2020-2100 (2012) USACE and NOAA SLR Curves

A lot of progress has been made over the last decade

About 6 million Floridians will need to move inland by century’s end to avoid inundation

Antarctica, long thought to be the “sleeping giant” of sea level rise, is actually a key player. Its ice sheets can change quickly, and in ways that could have huge implications for coastal communities and infrastructure in future.

Clear that SLR analysis needs to account for more variables and uncertainties than in the past

Dramatic sea level rise likely to year 3000, even without further emissions

Future changes in sea level: warming between the two poles in the last interglacial did not happen simultaneously. But under today’s greenhouse-gas-driven climate change, warming and ice loss are happening in both regions at the same time. This means that if climate change continues unabated, Earth’s past dramatic sea level rise could be a small taste of what’s to come.

How confident should we be that's the worst case?

How fast will sea levels rise?

Increase in 100-year flooding events based on 1 meter SLR

Massive increases in flood damage for 136 largest coastal cities by 2050

May already be impossible to avoid more than 10 meters of SLR

Per degree committment to SLR based on specific temperature thresholds

Representative GMSL scenarios from 2017 Sweet

Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) has figured out a way to warn people about coastal risk potential without flat-out prohibiting them from buying, financing, or altering those properties

Sea level rise is accelerating

Sea levels rose 10 metres above present levels during Earth’s last warm period 125,000 years ago

SLR unlikely to exceed 1 m this century, but could be several meters next century

study

The conversation is shifting from just SLR to "extreme still water" and "extreme total water" levels

The U.S. airports most vulnerable to sea level rise

Very few estimates of adaptation limits when it comes to SLR