Milieudefensie v Shell: Holding Carbon Majors Accountable for Human Rights Violations
“It is clear that the global climate crisis will worsen, with devastating implications for human rights, unless society changes direction.” […] “Corporations should comply with the Guiding Principles on Business...
The Success and Remaining Challenges of French Climate Litigation
Notre affaire à tous is a French environmental NGO founded in 2015 inspired by the ground-breaking Urgenda judgement. Its purpose was to initiate similar litigation in France. Hence, we lodged...
Human Rights-Based Climate Litigation in Latin America
As in other regions of the Global South, groups and individuals in Latin America have engaged in litigation to counter environmental harm threatening the enjoyment of their human rights. Climate...
IEA v Brazil: Rights-Based Climate Litigation to Protect the Brazilian Amazon
“[C]limate stability is a new social need, essential to the preservation of human life and ecological balance.” (IEA v. Brazil, Complaint at 45) Deforestation of the Amazon is not a...
Grappling with Danger: Some Lessons from Urgenda v The Netherlands
The landmark judgement of the Dutch Supreme Court in Urgenda Foundation v State of the Netherlands has inspired climate cases across the globe, where litigants argue that States are required...
Youth Led Litigation Highlights the Intergenerational Impact of Climate Change
The impact of dangerous climate change on our children and future generations has been highlighted by campaigns around the world such as Fridays for Future, which grew out of Greta...
Queensland Court to consider Australia’s first ‘climate change’ human rights case
As an increasing number of cases worldwide link climate change and human rights (for instance, see here), the first litigation of this kind in Australia is proceeding before Queensland’s Land...
Indemnity clauses in Mining Development Agreements in Zambia
Zambia has signed indemnity agreements with numerous multinational corporations investing in her mining sector. The agreements enable subsidiaries of international firms to be exempted from liability for environmental pollution that...
Jammu and Kashmir Media Policy 2020: A Veil Covering Freedoms
Through an order dated 15th May 2020, the Jammu and Kashmir Department of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) issued a revised Media Policy 2020 (hereinafter “the Policy”). The Media Policy...
Kabwe mine: taking rights seriously in a toxic city
Mining activities in Zambia, while economically beneficial (accounting for roughly 70 per cent of GDP), have produced negative effects, not least pollution to the environment. The scale of industrial pollution...
Irish Supreme Court quashes climate mitigation plan: environmental rights caught between redundancy and vagueness
On 31 July 2020, the Irish Supreme Court annulled the government’s climate mitigation plan. A grand chamber of – exceptionally – seven judges ruled unanimously that the plan did not...
Where are the human rights in the green economy transition?
The emergence of a green economy during the COVID-19 crisis presents a significant opportunity for the commercialisation of low-carbon solutions that catalyses an important emerging market, incentivising investors and governments...
