Lucy Maxwell is co-director at the Climate Litigation Network, a program of the Urgenda Foundation. A court in the Netherlands ruled that Shell is responsible for its own CO2 emissions and that it must reduce them by 45% compared to 2019 levels. communities around the world have since taken similar cases against fossil fuel companies.
The last several years have seen a big increase in the number of lawsuits focused on the climate crisis. Some lawsuits challenge governments for their support for fossil fuels and for their failure to take climate action, while other cases target the fossil fuel companies themselves for knowingly misleading the world about the climate disrupting impacts of burning their products. Some of these cases seek monetary damages, others seek to hold governments accountable to their emissions reduction pledges. As more of these cases get their time in court, how powerful can litigation be in forcing action around the climate emergency?
Guests:
Delta Merner, Lead Scientist, Science Hub for Climate Litigation, Union of Concerned Scientists
Korey Silverman-Roati, Senior Fellow, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia Law School
Lucy Maxwell, Co-Director, Climate Litigation Network, Urgenda Foundation
For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts
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