Urgent Action: Global Perspectives on the Dutch Climate Change Litigation

Might the courts hold the answer to climate change?  With great uncertainty hovering over the upcoming international climate talks in Paris – not to mention persistent policy gridlock in many national governments – advocates around the world are looking to judges for solutions that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  Climate change litigation faces many significant obstacles, but this summer advocates achieved an internationally-renowned victory in a court in The Hague, which ruled that the state has a duty to protect its citizens from the ravages expected from climate change.  In this seminar, Roger Cox, the lead lawyer in the landmark Dutch case will discuss the strategy he successfully pursued.  His opening remarks will be followed by commentary by leading legal authorities based in Brussels and London.  The session will be moderated by Cary Coglianese, the Edward B. Shils Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

For background on the case, visit the website for the Urgenda Foundation, the plaintiff in the successful Dutch litigation, and see the recently published commentary on the case by one of the members of the panel discussion.