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“People are increasingly turning to courts to combat the climate crisis, holding governments and the private sector accountable and making litigation a key mechanism for securing climate action and promoting climate justice.” – UNEP executive director Inger Andersen, July 2023

“Legal challenges against climate-wrecking corporations are an important step forward.” UN Secretary-General António Guterres, speech to the UN Human Rights Council, February 2023

The unfolding climate emergency is the biggest story on the planet, affecting all dimensions of our society from human health to national security to business and financial markets. One important aspect to this story is the fight for justice and accountability being waged in the courts. Through law and litigation, efforts are underway to hold powerful actors – typically governments and corporations – accountable for actions contributing to climate change and for harms resulting from it. Climate accountability litigation is a burgeoning battleground in the larger fight for a healthier, more sustainable and just planet, and courts are the arena where these battles are playing out.

All across the globe, citizens, communities, NGOs, and others are increasingly turning to the courts amidst mounting damages, costs and continued inaction and exacerbation of the climate emergency. Since 2015, the year the Paris Agreement was established, the number of climate court cases has more than doubled. Litigation related to climate change now spans more than 40 countries globally and amounts to over 2,000 cumulative cases. The types of claims and the categories of defendants continues to diversify, and the number of cases filed is on the rise. As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recognized in its Sixth Assessment Report: “Climate litigation is growing and can affect the outcome and ambition of climate governance.”

Climate in the Courts covers this rapidly expanding and evolving space, providing news as well as more in-depth features and analyses or trend pieces. Think of it as a one-stop-shop for reporting on climate accountability through the courts.

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Stay informed about new developments in the climate litigation space and access insights and stories that you may not get from mainstream climate news. Plus, you’ll be supporting independent journalism! This is a publication with absolutely no fossil fuel advertising or ad dollars, and no billionaire backers or corporate owners. It is 100 percent reader-supported. Your subscription makes this site possible, and allows Climate in the Courts to continue to exist. Thank you!

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Team

Dana Drugmand, Founder

Dana is an independent climate and environmental journalist covering topics such as climate accountability and climate change lawsuits; greenwashing and controversial purported climate solutions like carbon capture and storage; plastics and petrochemicals; and environmental law and justice. She has covered climate change litigation and climate-related legal news since 2017, the year that she completed a Master's degree in Environmental Law & Policy (with a certificate in Climate Law) from Vermont Law School. Her writing has appeared in The New Lede, Sierra, DeSmog, YES! Magazine, New Internationalist, Common Dreams, Truthout, and Earth Island Journal, among other outlets.