The United States continues to have the lion’s share of climate litigations filed globally, but the number of such cases are also rising in the rest of the world, showed a new report.
The analysis by Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science was made based on the database of the Climate Change Laws of the World (CCLW).
As many as 475 cases have been filed globally from January 1, 2020-May 31, 2022, according to Global trends in climate change litigation: 2022 snapshot. Out of this, more than two-thirds (321) were filed in the US.
Since 1986, 2,002 such litigations — current or past — were filed in 44 countries and 15 international or regional courts and tribunals, including the courts of the European Union, the study found.
Nearly a quarter of these litigations were filed since the start of 2020, pointed out the report. India had altogether 6-10 cases in this period, it added.
Favourable outcomes in climate action were obtained for 54 per cent cases analysed — all from outside the US.
Ian Fry, United Nations special rapporteur on human right and climate change, recently submitted a 6-point plan to UN for addressing the human rights aspects of climate change. He emphasised on “legal protection of people displaced across international borders (and) supporting climate change litigation”.
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Around 1,426 cases have been filed in US as of May 31, 2022, the report mentioned. Australia (124 cases), the United Kingdom (83) and the EU (60) remained the jurisdictions with the highest case volumes, said the report.
The overall number of climate litigations has risen sharply since 2015, according to the report. This is the year when the landmark Paris climate agreement was signed, where all countries agreed to cut carbon emissions, including in non-US countries.
The annual number of such cases globally crossed 100 for the first time in 2015. It was above 150 in 2017 and has been around 210 in 2020 and 2021 — more than doubling within five years, the findings showed.
For non-US countries, there were about 20 cases in 2014, which increased to around 80 in 2021.
During the same period, the number of US cases decreased marginally in 2020 and significantly in 2021. It fell to 120 in 2021 from 145 in 2020 and about 150 in 2019 and 120 in 2021 — a trend researchers linked with Donald Trump being ousted from the US presidency.
The cases have also started to rise in the Global South, which is known more for being the recipient of climatic impacts rather than the cause behind the global rise in greenhouse gas emissions.
Overall, there are now 88 cases from the global south in the databases, the authors noted in the report. “These include 47 cases in Latin America and the Caribbean, 28 cases in Asia Pacific and 13 cases in Africa.”
