Climate Talk

Do climate lawsuits actually change anything? A lawyer's view

I'm a junior litigator (not in climate, I do commercial stuff) but I follow climate cases as a hobby. There are two big categories: cases against governments for not doing enough, and cases against companies for damages or misleading claims.

The government ones have had some real wins. The Urgenda case in the Netherlands ended with the Supreme Court ordering the state to cut emissions further. In 2024 the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the Swiss KlimaSeniorinnen case that weak climate policy violated rights to private and family life. That's a huge precedent for a whole region.

Company cases are harder. Proving one company caused specific damage is tough legally, even when the science is clear in aggregate. But 'greenwashing' cases about misleading advertising are much easier to win, and they're quietly changing how companies market themselves.

My honest take: courts can push governments to follow their own laws faster, but they can't design an energy system. Curious what people from other legal systems think.