I:AdaptationBusinessCase

I:AdaptationEconomics

I:AdaptationInvesting

I:AdaptationMarkets

I:AdaptationPlanning

I:BarrierstoAdaptation

I:ClimateDemographics

I:ClimateLawTopics

I:ClimateLitigation

I:ClimateProofing

I:ClimateResilience

I:Ecocide

I:EnvironmentalLitigation

I:EvaluatingAdaptation

I:InternationalLaw

I:Litigation/LiabilityasBusinessRisk

I:NationalAdaptationPlans

I:PolluterPaysPrinciple

I:RDMRobustDecisionmaking

I:RetreatfromtheCoast

I:SandandClimateChange

I:U.S.ConstitutionalLaw

S - Adaptation Barriers Limits

S - Adaptation by Sector

S - Adaptation Decisionmaking

S - Adaptation Economics

S - Adaptation Education

S - Adaptation Futures

S - Adaptation Law

S - Adaptation Mitigation Interactions

S - Adaptation Planning

S - Adaptation Policy

S - Adaptation Tools

S - Business Adaptation/Resilience

S - Business Resilience

S - Children's Trust Litigation

S - City and Urban Resilience

S - Climate Action Plans

S - Climate Demographics

S - Climate Law General

S - Climate Migration

S - Coastal SLR Adaptation/Resilience

S - County and Regional Plans

S - Ecocide in International Law

S - Electric Sector Adaptation/Resilience

S - Evaluating Adaptation

S - Finance Sector Adaptation to Climate Change and Risk

S - Financing Adaptation

S - Infrastructure Adaptation

S - Insurance and Adaptation to Climate Change

S - International Climate Law

S - Mining Adapt

S - National Climate Law

S - Nuisance, Negligence, and Strict Liability

S - Oil and Gas Adapt

S - Organizational Climate Action Plans

S - Resilience as Risk Management

S - Resilience Economics

S - Resilience Planning

S - Security Military Adaptation

S - State and Local Climate Law

S - Urban Adaptation

S - Vulnerability to Climate Change

N - Adaptation Liability

N - Adaptation Planning

N - Adaptation Policy

N - Agriculture and Forestry Adaptation

N - Business Litigation and Liability Risk

N - Business Use of Litigation and Liability

N - Climate Demographics

N - Ecocide

N - Ecosystem Adaptation

N - Evaluating Climate Litigation Strategies

N - Funding Adaptation

N - International Law and Litigation

N - Legal Strategies for the Climate

N - National Liability

N - Readiness/Adaptation for Physical Risks

N - Skiing

N - SLR Adaptation

N - State and Local Adaptation

N - State and Local Law

N - U.S. Litigation

T - Adaptation Consultants

T - Adaptation NGOs

T - Adaptation Portals

T - Adaptation Tools

T - CC Adaptation

T - Climate Demographics

T - Climate Litigation Portals

T - Climate Litigation Websites

T - Legal Blogs

T - Legal Topics - Websites

T - Litigation and Liability Networks

V - Adaptation Videos

V - Litigation and Liability

V - Resilience Videos

E - Adaptation Barriers

E - Adaptation Beliefs

E - Adaptation in Cities

E - Adaptation Limits

E - Adaptation Planning

E - Adaptation Scenarios

E - Adaptation Through Insurance

E - Business Resilience/Adaptation

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E - Challenges of Climate Decisionmaking

E - Climate Demographics

E - CO2 Significance Under CEQA NEPA SEPA

E - Evaluating Adaptation

E - Federal Adaptation Planning

E - International adaptation policy

E - Law and Policy by Geography

E - Legal Implications of SLR

E - Liability Risks

E - National adaptation policy

E - Necessity Defense

E - Use of Law Against Climate Change Mitigation

E - Vulnerability Assessments and Action Plans

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?

G - Adaptation Economics

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.

Complaint’s Causes of Action

Defendants acted to increase fossil fuel usage

Defendants actions were reckless

Defendants had a meeting of the minds

Defendants knew what would happen

Defense Production Act useful since president can use through executive order, and DPA can provide guarantee to manufacturers

EPA says it is already doing enough

Establishing the personal consequences of climate change

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

Legal case in favor of using the Defense Production Act to address climate change - climate change is risk to national security

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"

Setting the stage for the complaint

The 2016 amendments removed some challenges to the complaint

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 statutory context for TSCA

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

TSCA was used with CFCs

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