In early September, a group of six young people in Portugal filed a complaint against 33 nations with the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR or the ‘Court’), alleging that the respondents have violated their human rights by failing to act fast enough on climate change. It’s the first case of its kind to be filed with the Court, and is indicative of the growing number of young people using the legal system to force faster action on the climate crisis.
Released on Oct 7, 2020
2020 was meant to be a red-letter year for addressing the climate crisis, with governments expected to set ambitious emission reduction goals as part of the Paris Agreement. Covid-19 has shuttered economies, bringing visible reductions in pollution and raising hopes of emerging into a cleaner future.
Released on Aug 12, 2020
The carbon divestment movement has forced serious consideration of the rights and wrongs of financing fossil fuel. But, with demand for energy still rising, the answers are far from simple.
Released on Apr 9, 2020
Today, an average petrol-powered car, which has travelled 150,000 miles, will emit more than 63,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide. By comparison, the carbon dioxide output from batteries recharged from renewable electricity sources is negligible.
Released on Mar 5, 2020
A long-running dispute between Canada and the United States over sovereignty of the Northwest Passage is one of numerous tensions being heightened by the climate crisis. Global Insight explains how international law can help mitigate the risks.
Released on Feb 13, 2020
David Miliband, Chief Executive of the International Rescue Committee, discusses climate change migration, practical measures to assist refugees and the need for passion when confronting populism.
Released on Dec 24, 2019
Business and investors need to play a huge role in financing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals over the next decade but, three years into the journey, progress is proving slow. Global Insight explores the challenges facing companies and legal practitioners in closing the gap between ambition and action.
Released on Feb 12, 2019
Just over a year ago, to no one’s surprise, US President, Donald Trump, announced his intention to withdraw the country from the Paris Agreement on climate change. As the world’s second-largest emitter – behind China – the non-participation of the US in the historic 2015 deal has been widely viewed as a potential disaster. But, despite the move, most governments resolved not to waver in their commitment to the deal. Some in the climate community meanwhile called on US states, businesses and citizens [...]
Released on Aug 31, 2018
Following UK’s Brexit vote and the actions of the Trump administration, Mary Robinson outlines her concerns over the rise of populism and the implications for climate justice.
Released on Dec 8, 2016
Zuzana Caputova, a public interest lawyer who won a decisive victory in the European Court of Justice over a highly controversial waste pit in Slovakia, was recently awarded the European category of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, which honours ‘grassroots environmental heroes’.
Released on Jul 20, 2016
Edie Hofmeister, Vice-Chair of the IBA’s Business Human Rights Committee and former EVP General Counsel of Tahoe Resources, provides a cautionary tale on why corporate counsel must lead their multinational clients to measure and manage community impacts early and often.
Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) increased the credit rating of Germany’s national railway company Deutsche Bahn in mid-October, following the German parliament’s approval of the country’s first climate legislation aimed at reducing carbon emissions and hitting climate change targets ahead of a 2030 deadline.
As the climate crisis deepens, there remains a troubling lack of international consensus on practical and legal responses. Global Insight highlights the pressing need for international law to stand up for the planet.
The 2019 Stockholm Human Rights Award winners were David Miliband and the International Rescue Committee, the organisation he leads. In conversation with IBA Executive Director, Mark Ellis, Miliband spoke about migration, the climate crisis and the need for passion, as well as reason, in confronting populism.
At the beginning of November, the British Government announced that fracking was not to proceed in England, following new scientific analysis. The decision comes amid mounting calls for the practice to be banned around the world.
With governments around the world committed to achieving carbon-neutral status by 2050, Global Insight assesses the role our cities have to play in getting them there.
Corporate lawyers in a climate of change by Dr Paul Hatchwell. IHP August 2019
IBA Global Insight Aug/Sept 2019: Scientific evidence has established beyond doubt that climate change needs to be addressed, and urgently. Global Insight assesses how civil society and strategic litigation are forcing corporations and governments to take long overdue action
The Northwest Passage’s Inuit are witnessing a transformation of their environment due to climate change.
In May 2019, eight inhabitants of a group of islands off the northern tip of Queensland launched a claim against the Australian federal government, alleging that it has violated their human rights by failing to address the climate crisis.
The urgent need to limit global warming means geoengineering technologies are likely to be developed and rolled out on a commercial scale, but experts disagree on the need for a global legal framework to regulate them.
The latest UN climate change talks in Katowice – Europe’s ‘capital of coal’ – sought to finalise the rulebook for implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement. But, while the December talks made a breakthrough on transparency and reporting on action to tackle global warming, measures to engage markets and business proved a stumbling block.
France has experienced months of regular clashes between the ‘gilets jaunes’ protestors and police. Since the first national day of protests on 17 November 2018, yellow-jacketed protestors have barricaded roundabouts across the country and damaged property. The protests have hit the French economy, with motorways closed and hundreds of speed cameras vandalised.
Doom-laden concerns over recent wildfires, heatwaves and floods contrast with the optimism following the Paris Agreement just three years ago. Global Insight speaks to the leaders of the fight for environmental justice to find out what should happen next. With Mary Robinson, John Cruden and James Thornton.
In this filmed interview, James Thornton of environmental public interest law firm ClientEarth discusses the use of the law and litigation to protect the Earth, air pollution litigation, diesel emissions scandals, Brexit and environmental law, China’s long-term vision for the environment, the Paris Agreement, Divestment from fossil fuels, climate change risk and the threat of the 'carbon bubble', the US and its short-term approach to the environment, and challenges facing environmental lawyers.
As the world faces major floods, heatwaves and droughts, the scientific case for slashing carbon emissions grows ever stronger. Businesses are now taking notice as mounting evidence points towards a new carbon bubble. Bubbles – financial, dotcom, housing or otherwise – are great for investors, until they burst. Should the carbon bubble burst, as is expected, it would wipe trillions of dollars from the global economy.
IBA Global Insight Aug/Sept 2018. Commercial mining of the ocean floor is taking off at scale. Global Insight explores the legal and environmental issues of a new industry that could transform developing nations.
It’s been a busy time since the Paris Agreement was finalised at the end of 2015. Governments have continued to grapple with finalising the rules for the Agreement ahead of the deadline for adopting them at December’s annual climate talks. Much of the focus has been on how governments are implementing their pledges, but increasingly non-state actors are filling the void left by leading states, particularly in the wake of President Trump’s rejection of the Paris Agreement.
IBA Global Insight, June/July 2018 - President Trump’s environmental chief appears to be battling his own agency. Global Insight assesses an internal struggle at the EPA that could have dire consequences for the fight against climate change.
After the high of the Paris Agreement in 2015, the next few years of climate negotiations would always be lower profile – yet just as important. Now that the agreement has been finalised, the hard work to create the rules and guidance it calls for will take time. Two years on, and with only a year remaining until the self-imposed deadline for implementation is upon governments, the November 2017 Conference of the Parties (COP) needed to advance the process.