"World's First Climate Liability Suit" Succeeds - Could Be "a Game Changer"

In what is being called a landmark ruling that that could have worldwide effects, a Dutch court has ordered the government of the Netherlands to reduce the country's emissions by 25% within 5 years to protect its citizens from harm.

Jubilant campaigners said that governments preparing for the Paris climate summit later this year would now need to look over their shoulders for civil rights era-style legal challenges where emissions-cutting pledges are inadequate.

“Before this judgement, the only legal obligations on states were those they agreed among themselves in international treaties,” said Dennis van Berkel, legal counsel for Urgenda, the group that brought the suit.

“This is the first a time a court has determined that states have an independent legal obligation towards their citizens. That must inform the reduction commitments in Paris because if it doesn’t, they can expect pressure from courts in their own jurisdictions.”

The decision may be "a game changer":

The case is thought to be the first in Europe in which citizens try to hold a state responsible for lack of action on climate change.

It is also thought to be the first to use human rights legislation as a basis to protect people from climate change, with similar cases being prepared in Belgium, Norway and The Philippines.

The question is whether courts and legal systems in other countries will enable such suits to succeed:

"It's a sea change if other courts follow the lead of the Dutch court," said Michael Gerrard, who directs the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. "It's sort of a break in the dyke, appropriate coming from the Netherlands. And we'll see how big the flow is that follows from it."

In the U.S., the Supreme Court has rejected a lawsuit like this one. But Gerrard said other major countries like India have legal systems more likely to to rule in favor of the environmentalists. And if this does catch on, he said, it could become an entirely new front for addressing climate change.

The suit was filed by the Urgenda Foundation, an organization promoting sustainability, and 900 co-plaintiffs. It was launched in 2013.

The idea came from Dutch lawyer Roger Cox, whose book Revolution Justified argues that the judiciary must force governments into action on climate change. “You cannot ruin your world and accept that this climate change will have human rights infringement effects all over the world and then decide that there’s no role for the law to play,” Cox told Pacific Standard.

N.B.: Walter Einenkel posted on this yesterday, but there is more to read by now! John Crapper's diary today also shows the importance of the courts for climate action.