The IBA’s response to the war in Ukraine
Climate Crisis
Welcome to the IBA Climate Crisis webpage, where you will find details of events, reports and relevant information about the role of lawyers in tackling the climate crisis.
There is a pressing need to upskill legal professionals and increase climate capacity and climate literacy in domestic and international settings. To quote UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the launch of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Sixth Assessment Report: 'Our world needs climate action on all fronts: everything, everywhere, all at once.'
In 2014 the IBA published a report titled Achieving Justice and Human Rights in an Era of Climate Disruption. In 2020, the Model Statute for Proceedings Challenging Government Failure to Act on Climate Change was released. In May 2020 the IBA published the Climate Crisis Statement, stating that 'the legal profession must be prepared to play a leading role in maintaining and strengthening the rule of law and supporting responsible, enlightened governance in an era marked by a climate crisis'. This Statement included guidance for law associations globally and demonstrates a commitment to collaborate actively with others for the greatest impact in addressing the climate crisis, including clients, regulators, bar associations, other professional bodies and legal networks focused on ameliorating the climate crisis.
In 2021 the IBA was admitted by the Conference of the Parties as an observer organisation to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process. Since then, the IBA jointly held two events at COP27, collectively engaged in the 2022 Climate Law and Governance Day and held a side session at the Bonn Climate Change Conference in June 2023. These events provided valuable networking opportunities for legal practitioners, law associations, law firms, and academic institutions to exchange information, best practices, and ideas on key issues facing the legal profession and the planet. This work was carried out alongside the American Bar Association, the Brazilian Bar Association and the Law Society of England and Wales, reflecting the commitment to collaboration made under the Climate Crisis Statement.
Moving forward, the IBA Legal Policy & Research Unit have prepared three lines of work to better prepare for UNFCCC engagement and align the legal profession in the climate space, including legal guidance and outreach, professional legal training and thematic webinars.
If you would like to learn more about the initiatives outlined above, please connect with us.
Download app for Climate Crisis Special Edition
Access a decade’s worth of Global Insight coverage of the climate crisis
Digital Content
News Analysis
Committee Content
Biodiversity: why should we worry?
| 10 July 2023
Employment and diversity lawyers and the ‘S’ in ESG
| 20 April 2023
IBA Podcasts
Climate justice in practice
| 04 July 2023
The ESG and sustainability landscape
| 29 March 2023
Climate crisis and the law: the rise of climate litigation
| 03 November 2022
Focus on COP26
| 27 October 2021
Climate change is one of the major contemporary environmental and human rights issues. Priorities have been identified and bold commitments made at the highest levels of the executive in most responsible jurisdictions. All that will come to nought without execution.
Film
The role of lawyers and law associations in the Global Stocktake: Implementation at a domestic level
This discussion covers the unique role of law and law associations in regulating, training, and sharing best legal practice examples to further climate objectives & implementation strategies for the net zero transition and realisation of country NDCs.
COP28 capacity building: Africa in focus – facilitating the net transition
This session is the first of four thematic webinars focusing on the role of lawyers in the climate crisis. This session builds on our work at COP27 by engaging in outreach and highlighting the key areas of capacity building in the green transition, the implementation of nationally determined contributions, approaching roadblocks to investment and facilitating opportunities for lawyers in this space.
Lawyers and the climate emergency
The online panel event was held in support of the International Law Book Facility’s law undergraduate essay competition 2022-2023. The competition asks law undergraduates the question: What difference can lawyers make in tackling the climate emergency?
One such topic of major concern to me, and many others, is the climate crisis – an urgent and potentially irreversible threat to humanity and life on the planet.
Reports
Legal Aspects of Climate Change Adaptation
While progress on climate change depends on stability in other domains in order to implement the Paris Agreement of 2015, climate change itself is a destabilising force. The Climate Change Adaptation Report looks closely at three areas key to heading off the likelihood of accelerating instability in the near future: population displacement, food security and access to technology. This report places these issues within the larger context of the Paris Accord and the recent advances in research and policy on the human rights implications of climate change.
Model Statute for Proceedings Challenging Government Failure to Act on Climate Change
Building on recent successes and judicial reasoning, the Model Statute highlights the role of litigation in setting requirements for governments to protect the public. With the advice of leading experts, it provides detailed rationales, precedents and 23 specific Articles for reforms.