{"id":96982,"date":"2025-10-04T08:42:44","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T08:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=96982"},"modified":"2025-10-04T08:42:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T08:42:44","slug":"3099-climate-cases-filed-worldwide-as-litigation-becomes-a-global-tool-for-climate-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=96982","title":{"rendered":"3,099 climate cases filed worldwide as litigation becomes a global tool for climate action"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 18 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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As of 30 June 2025, 3,099 climate-related cases have been filed in 55 national jurisdictions and 24 international or regional courts, tribunals, or quasi-judicial bodies, according to a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Sabin Centre for Climate Change Law at Columbia University.<\/p>\n

The report shows a steady rise in climate litigation: 2,180 cases in 2022, 1,550 in 2020, and 884 in 2017. While cases from the Global South still account for less than 10 per cent, their share is gradually increasing.<\/p>\n

Since the first recorded climate litigation case almost four decades ago, the field has expanded and matured. <\/p>\n

Today, litigation covers nearly all aspects of climate governance, with similar trends now emerging in related crises such as biodiversity loss and pollution.<\/p>\n

The findings suggest that climate litigation is now being pursued in more countries than ever before.<\/p>\n

The report also highlights how lawsuits are tackling issues such as greenwashing, carbon offsets, and energy-intensive data centres.<\/p>\n

The publication, titled Climate Change in the Courtroom: Trends, Impacts, and Emerging Lessons, is the fourth edition of the series launched in 2017. <\/p>\n

It draws on data from the Sabin Centre\u2019s Climate Change Litigation Databases to examine key trends, ongoing cases, and landmark court rulings.<\/p>\n

\"3,099<\/figure>\n

Executive Director of UNEP, Inger Andersen, described climate litigation as an effective global tool for advancing climate action and accountability.<\/p>\n

\u201cTransforming our energy, mobility, housing, and food systems must be a collective effort, through ambitious and science-based policymaking. Independent judicial systems are essential to ensuring this transformation is both just and effective,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The report also points to significant rulings, including the recent Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice, which clarified states\u2019 obligations in addressing climate change. <\/p>\n

Courts are increasingly acknowledging the scientific basis for climate claims, including attribution science that links specific extreme weather events to greenhouse gas emissions. <\/p>\n

According to the report, these rulings are shaping global norms and obligations.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the 78-page report warns of a rise in anti-climate litigation, cases aimed at rolling back environmental protections or weakening environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) in investments. <\/p>\n

Of particular concern is the increase in lawsuits against public opposition to high-emitting projects, often targeting climate advocates, journalists, and civil society groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese cases underscore that the terrain of climate litigation is not uniform, and the interests of plaintiffs are not unidirectional. Rather, climate litigation is a complex and diverse field that shapes and contests the global response to climate change. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe field involves a multiplicity of actors, forums, legal strategies and outcomes. Significantly, climate litigation as a field is becoming a model for other climate-adjacent fields such as plastics and biodiversity litigation,\u201d the report notes.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"3,099The report shows a steady rise in climate litigation: 2,180 cases in 2022, 1,550 in 2020, and 884 in 2017. While cases from the Global South still account for less than 10 per cent, their share is gradually increasing.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9831,1910,10,9,9832],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-cases","category-international","category-politics","category-popular","category-un-environment-programme-unep"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/96983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}