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Courts hold governments to account on climate

A lawyer at international compliance company Red Flag Group has said recent court rulings in Ireland and the Netherlands will push governments to bring in more environmental regulations and to enforce them more rigorously.

Humberto Vivas was referring to the Supreme Court ruling earlier this year which quashed the Government’s 2017 National Mitigation Plan on climate change, as well as a Dutch Supreme Court ruling late last year which legally obliged its government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% compared with 1990 by the end of 2020.

Similar cases are already being heard by the high courts in other countries, including India, Pakistan and Australia.

Legal mechanism

Vivas said that, previously, there was no legal mechanism to hold governments and politicians liable for their role in climate change.

“The consequences for their inaction were only political, not legal,” he said.
Vivas said these two court decisions were the first that sought to allocate “measurable obligations” to those in the government.

Standards

He argued that these court rulings would ultimately force multinational companies to improve their compliance standards, as they would lead to more environmental regulations, and a greater willingness to enforce those regulations.

“Companies should expect heavier monetary fines, greater suspensions, increased inspections, less impunity and a raise of the expectations bar from regulators when it comes to evaluating environmental standards,” Vivas said.