South Korea’s Constitutional Court has issued a “first of its kind” decision in Asia, requiring South Korea to update its greenhouse gas reduction targets.
By Paul A. Davies, Wonsuk (Steve) Kang, Michael D. Green, James Bee, Stephanie Forrest, and Jiou (Alex) Park
On 29 August 2024, South Korea’s Constitutional Court (the Court) ruled unanimously that a provision of the 2021 Framework Act on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth for Coping with Climate Crisis (the Framework)
For the first time, the Court has confirmed that the adverse impacts of climate change fall within the ambit of human rights protection under the European Convention of Human Rights, obliging States to implement effective mitigation measures.
By Paul A. Davies, Sophie J. Lamb KC, Michael D. Green, James Bee, and Stephanie Forrest
On 9 April 2024, the European Court of Human Rights delivered three Grand Chamber rulings in climate change-related cases. These three separate judgments
Court finds the Netherlands’ 20% greenhouse gas emissions target to be unacceptable, citing the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the ECHR.
By Paul A. Davies and Michael D. Green
On 20 December 2019, the Dutch Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeal ruling in the Urgenda case, determining that the Dutch State was required to reduce Dutch greenhouse gas emissions by 25%[i] by the end of 2020. This decision marked the final ruling in a series of cases dating back to 2015.
In 2015, environmental nongovernmental organization, the Urgenda Foundation (Urgenda), brought a case against the Dutch State, alleging that the national target for greenhouse gas emission reductions was insufficient. The Dutch target at that time was the EU-wide figure of 20% compared to 1990 levels. According to Urgenda, the risks of climate change meant that the 20% target was insufficient, and only a decrease of at least 25% would be adequate.
The Hague District Court at first instance agreed with Urgenda, and ordered emissions be reduced by 25% by 2020, a finding that was initially confirmed by the Hague Court of Appeal in 2018. Now, the Dutch Supreme Court has followed suit.