International Weather Litigation Report: 2023 Standing Review | UNEP

Local climate litigation represents a frontier answer to adjust the dynamics of the battle towards local weather adjust. This Global Local weather Litigation Report: 2023 Status Critique shows that people today are increasingly turning to the courts to overcome the local weather crisis. As of December 2022, there have been 2,180 weather-connected conditions submitted in 65 jurisdictions, which includes global and regional courts, tribunals, quasi-judicial bodies, or other adjudicatory bodies, these types of as Special Methods at the United Nations and arbitration tribunals. This signifies a steady maximize from 884 conditions in 2017 and 1,550 cases in 2020. Children and youth, women’s teams, area communities, and Indigenous Peoples, between other individuals, are having a popular position in bringing these instances and driving climate transform governance reform in far more and a lot more international locations about the earth.

This report, which updates preceding United Nations Natural environment Programme stories released in 2017 and 2020, provides an overview of the existing point out of local weather transform litigation and an update on global climate change litigation trends. It delivers judges, attorneys, advocates, policymakers, scientists, environmental defenders, local climate activists, human legal rights activists (including women’s legal rights activists), NGOs, enterprises and the intercontinental neighborhood at huge with an critical source to comprehend the present point out of global weather litigation, like descriptions of the key difficulties that courts have faced in the training course of weather transform scenarios.

This report even more demonstrates the importance of an environmental rule of legislation in combating the triple planetary crises of local climate transform, biodiversity loss and pollution. Access to justice allows the defense of environmental law and human legal rights and promotes accountability in general public institutions. The report was released in conjunction with the anniversary of the United Nations Typical Assembly’s recognition of the human proper to a thoroughly clean, healthful and sustainable natural environment (A/RES/76/300), as the the vast majority of instances brought before the courts demonstrate concrete back links between human rights and climate transform. The UNGA resolution, which recognises that weather change impacts have detrimental implications on the enjoyment of all human rights, is most likely to push further motion on local climate transform in the long term.

Relevant publications

The Environmental Rule of Law: Initial International Report

World-wide Climate Litigation Report: 2020 Status Review

The Position of Weather Change Litigation: A Worldwide Review