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Top national courts hear more climate cases worldwide
The field of climate litigation is growing in reach and influence across the planet, even as legal efforts to address global warming face stiff 'political headwinds,' new research finds.
Climate activists are notching wins in countries such as Brazil, and an increasing number of climate cases are reaching top national courts, according to the latest annual report from the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
But those advances are tempered somewhat by a backlash against environmental, social and governance factors, as well as attempts by the Trump administration to roll back climate change regulations and quash climate lawsuits.
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'We have seen over the past year not only a further maturing of climate-aligned strategic litigation to promote climate action but we have also recorded a rise in cases pushing back against climate action, which presents new challenges for politicians, businesses and climate activists,' said Joana Setzer, associate professorial research fellow at the institute. 'The situation in the United States shows that litigation is a two-way street and can be used to help climate action and also to slow it down.'
