But the latest wave of climate litigation cases are different in that they do not rely on existing biodiversity legislation or air quality legislation. They instead “place climate change at the very heart of the case,” explained Catherine Higham, a policy analyst and coordinator of the Climate Change Laws of the World project at the London-based Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. Underlining the quest to set new precedents in climate litigation is the consolidation of climate science, and “the now well-established connection between climate change and human rights,” noted Higham. But such “anti-climate” lawsuits may struggle to be an equal counterweight to a rising wave of activist climate litigation. Climate litigants tipped for more successThe Grantham Research Institute report on climate change litigation notes that 58% of the cases brought against companies and governments, excluding in the US, had outcomes favorable to climate change action.
