NGOs around the world threaten to take their governments to court

UPDATE DAY

NGOs around the world are urging their governments to “change course” on climate change at the upcoming COP27 or threaten to sue them, in a letter published Tuesday. 

“If you continue to let us down, we will turn to the courts to demand accountability”, warn more than twenty associations, including Notre Affaire à tous in France.

The signatory NGOs come from Africa, North and South America, Asia, Australia or Europe.

They call on governments to act more decisively to limit global warming climate change and to mitigate its catastrophic effects.

“COP27 is an opportunity for you to change course: to minimize the extent of the suffering and human rights violations caused by your failure to confront to the crisis, and to comply with your legal obligations under national and international law”, plead the NGOs, before the major international climate meeting under the aegis of the UN, which is being held in November in Egypt.

Among the signatories, Notre Affaire à Tous has already condemned the French State, a court holding it “responsible” for breaches of its commitments and the “ecological damage” that results from it.

The Dutch foundation Urgenda has for its part obtained from the Supreme Court of the Netherlands in 2019 that it order the State to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25% by the end of 2020.

The number of climate disputes in the world is on the rise rise in recent years. The Columbia Law School database thus lists more than 2,000 cases around the world, the majority of which are in the United States.