The court room: battleground for climate change

By Sophie Morello, Associate Partner

It wasn’t that long ago that ‘being green’ was just a nice-to-have bumper sticker that boosted CSR kudos and was a handy marketing tool to help drive sales and investments. And for governments, the green agenda was a second-tier issue – especially when we were bogged down in the financial crisis and, to an extent, Brexit. But now, there are not only serious commercial and reputational risks to not having a sound plan for cutting emissions and reducing environmental impact, but the heat is being turned up on climate change related litigation. 

There was a sharp rise in climate changes cases in 2019, according to Norton Rose Fulbright’s climate change litigation update. From the beginning of 2020, the total number of such cases filed reached approximately 1,444, and the UK saw the third most cases across the world, following the United States and Australia. 

These are not small scale, or insignificant lawsuits either. Last month a legal case was brought against the Australian government for misleading investors in sovereign bonds by failing to disclose the financial risk caused by climate change. This is the first case of its kind and could have far reaching consequences for related financial disclosures. Also, in Australia, a landmark lawsuit is due to go to trial against the Retail Employees Superannuation Trust (Rest) demanding that it provide information on climate change business risks and the plans to address them.

Closer to home, in July, Plan B (which has been created to support strategic legal action against climate change) launched a legal challenge against the UK government’s green recovery plans because they are deemed to be inadequate. And this month, a case brought by Friends of the Irish Environment concluded with the Supreme Court ruling that the Irish government’s 2017 National Mitigation Plan did not give enough detail on the reduction of greenhouse gases, the implications of which could be felt across Europe.

There is no room to hide behind generic greenwashing anymore and where governments and legislation doesn’t go far enough, litigation is likely to be pursued. Climate activists are moving off the streets and into the courtroom. Litigation is a powerful tool they can leverage and is impossible to ignore. As more people join the fight against climate change and fund the cause, we can expect suing for change to become commonplace.