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By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

Hello!

All aboard the train to the ‘Climate Litigation Station’. This week, courts around the world are hearing an ever-growing number of climate change lawsuits, with some of the largest cases in history being decided in 2024 and 2025.

There are currently three climate advisory proceedings underway before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR), the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), and the International Court of Justice (ICJ). 

Each case revolves around one main question – are governments obligated to protect people from climate change?

And if so – to what degree? The ICJ, the world’s highest court, is expected to issue a decision next year that will lay out U.N. member states’ obligations in addressing climate change.

Also on my radar today:

IACHR attends the hearings on a landmark climate change case at the Amazon Theatre in Manaus, Brazil. REUTERS/Bruno Kelly

In Latin America, the Inter-American Court is facing the largest climate case to date, drawing on 262 submitted legal briefs, more than 600 participants, and hearings in both Barbados and Brazil.

The IACHR, which holds jurisdiction over 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries, hopes to issue its advisory opinion by year’s end, top justice Nancy Hernandez Lopez told Reuters. The final hearing is being held in the Amazon rainforest city of Manaus.

Following the Inter-American court’s decision, the governments under its jurisdiction will need to align their laws with the ruling or risk being sued, said Ciro Brito, a lawyer at Brazil’s Instituto Socioambiental, an environmental and Indigenous rights nonprofit in Brazil.

It could give an immediate boost to a handful of legal cases already filed against governments in the region, including one filed by Mexican youths and another demanding more action from Brazil to fight Amazon deforestation.

The opinion from the Inter-American Court could go further by ruling on whether states also must adapt to climate change or pay for damages already caused by climate extremes, Maxwell said.

The court could address protections for environmental defenders, given Latin America accounts for the vast majority of such activists who are murdered, said climate litigation expert Joana Setzer at the London School of Economics.

Other lawyers said they were poised to take action once the Inter-American Court issues its opinion.

On Tuesday, the international ocean court ruled that greenhouse gas emissions absorbed by the ocean are a form of marine pollution, subject to international controls.

A representative for the small-island nations that brought the case hailed the decision as giving teeth to global climate change law.

Countries are obliged to protect marine environments, even if they must go beyond the Paris requirements to do so, the court said.

As for the ICJ case, the world’s highest court is expected to issue a decision next year that will lay out U.N. member states’ obligations in addressing climate change.

The U.N. General Assembly asked the court last year to come up with an advisory opinion, following a four-year campaign by Vanuatu, a small Pacific island nation where a group of law students initially dreamed up the ICJ petition.

Globally, most past court decisions on climate have focused on countries causing harm by failing to sufficiently cut greenhouse gas emissions, including last month’s ruling against Switzerland.

However, enforcement of such decisions is largely untested. In fact, a Swiss parliamentary committee last week rejected the ruling by the European court that said the nation had violated the human rights of its citizens by not doing enough to prevent climate change.

The multinational court decisions, once released, should provide clarity and guidance for national judges hearing climate cases. But they could also touch off a new wave in climate litigation, lawyers and judges told Reuters.

Major differences between international court decisions could also trigger fragmentation where climate change rules differ between regions.

Click here for the full Reuters factbox on other pending climate cases.

Papua New Guinea landslide explained. Authorities are piecing together the scale of destruction and death toll from the devastating landslide which buried a village. Reuters graphics.

Jamie Peters, climate co-ordinator at Friends of the Earth, shares his thoughts on the UK general election announcement and the nation’s climate goals:

“This general election must be a gamechanger for people and the planet.

“Inflation might be down today, but the cost-of-living crisis is far from over and we’re still paying far more on our gas and electricity bills than before the energy crisis.

“This won’t change while our energy system remains hooked on gas, leaving the UK exposed to volatile global markets. Meanwhile, water companies and other polluters are getting away scot-free with dumping toxic waste into our rivers and seas, threatening our health, and devastating wildlife and nature.

“Voters across the country back the action needed to meet our climate goals and protect nature for future generations. Political candidates should take note of this during their election campaigns.

“Now we need to see all parties commit to the strong, green policies needed to tackle the climate and nature crises and ensure we all benefit from a fossil-free future.

“This means vastly scaling up cheap homegrown renewables, investing in insulation and green industries, which would create new jobs, boost energy security and save us all money on our bills for good. We must also see an end to the environmental destruction and injustices caused by polluting companies in the UK and globally.”

Brewmaster Benjamin Grund tests ‘Reuse Brew‘, a beer made from sewage at the brewery of the Munich Technical University (TUM) in Freising, Germany. REUTERS/Angelika Warmuth

Today’s ESG spotlight asks a very serious question for lovers of beer. Picture this, you’re in your favorite pub or drinking hole. You get the bartender’s attention and ask for a draught beer. They proceed to pour you a nice cold lager from the tap and you grab a hold of it, but before you press your lips against the glass, they tell you some shocking news.

The beer you’re about to sip is made of sewage water. Would you still give that beer a try after finding that out? 

This is the Reuse Brew, a beer engineered in Germany and made from wastewater. Its brewers say the drink is perfectly safe, tastes good and offers a sustainable solution to beer-making. Click here to watch the Reuters video.

The EPA rebates will support the purchase of 3,400 school buses, 92% of them electric, the White House said. Williamson County School bus, Tennessee, U.S REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Elsewhere, the White House unveiled nearly $900 million in awards to 530 school districts to replace thousands of aging, gas-fueled school buses with cleaner, mainly electric models.

The funding is the third tranche of $5 billion that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hand out over five years through a clean school bus program created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in 2021.

Today’s Sustainable Switch was edited by Mark R. Potter.

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