The total number of court cases focused on climate action has more than doubled since 2017 and is growing worldwide, according to a new report published on Thursday by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
The trend indicates that climate litigation is becoming an integral part of the international push for greater climate action and justice.
The Global Climate Litigation Report: 2023 Status Review, is based on a review of cases up to the end of 2022, compiled by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, which partnered with UNEP on the research.
The report was launched on eve of the first anniversary of the UN General Assembly's declaration that access to a clean and healthy environment is a universal human right.
"Climate policies are far behind what is needed to keep global temperatures below the 1.5°C threshold, with extreme weather events and searing heat already baking our planet," said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP.
"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."
A tool to advance climate action
Action is accelerating, the report said, and in 2017 "we reported 884 cases in 24 jurisdictions, and today in our report we say that there are over 2,180 cases in 65 jurisdictions, said Andrew Raine, Head of the Frontiers in Environmental Law Unit of UNEP, in an interview with UN News.
"There is seemingly a new case every week", he added.
