Ten years of climate lawsuits across the globe have created a “legal architecture for climate protection” even as some individual cases falter, advocates for litigation argued in a new report.
The survey by the Climate Litigation Network showed that lawsuits have established legal requirements for governments and corporations to address greenhouse gas emissions.
“In just ten years, climate litigation has evolved from a handful of complaints before domestic courts to a global accountability system recognised by the highest international courts and tribunals,” the report said.
The report comes 10 years after the Urgenda Foundation, an advocacy group representing 900 Dutch citizens, won a court verdict ordering the Netherlands to cut emissions — the first time a court anywhere ordered a government to take stronger climate action.
