Climate Litigation

338 posts

New Zealand Legislates Away Climate Tort, Part II: International Climate Obligations and Access to Justice

This is the second of two posts examining New Zealand’s Climate Change Response (Tort Liability) Amendment Act 2026. Part I examined the legislation’s intervention in Smith v Fonterra and situated it within an emerging international backlash against corporate climate litigation. This post asks a different question: what does New Zealand’s […]

New Zealand Legislates Away Climate Tort, Part I: Smith v Fonterra and the Global Backlash Against Climate Litigation

This is the second of three consecutive posts on corporate climate accountability. Yesterday’s post examined the Paris Judicial Court’s June 2026 ruling in Notre Affaire à Tous et al. v. TotalEnergies SE.  On August 18, 2026, New Zealand’s Parliament enacted the Climate Change Response (Tort Liability) Amendment Act 2026 (the Liability […]

Recognizing Scope 3, Reserving the Remedy: The Paris Court’s TotalEnergies Judgment

This is the first of two consecutive posts on corporate climate accountability. Tomorrow’s post examines the New Zealand government’s decision to legislate away corporate climate tort before trial — a case study in what happens when governments answer the accountability question before courts can reach it. On June 25, 2026, […]

Sabin Center Interns Get to the Core of Climate Science

On Thursday July 16th, a group of Sabin Center staff and summer interns boarded the shuttle from Morningside Heights to travel to the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) for an incredible day of learning about the science behind the work we do to combat the climate crisis and advance climate justice. […]

UK Court Recognizes Climate Migration as a Human Right: FA v. the Secretary of State for the Home Department (2025)

In November 2025, one of the first climate-related asylum appeals was reviewed in the UK, by the UK’s First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) and approved on human rights grounds. In FA v Secretary of State for the Home Department (SSHD), the appellant (FA) argued that climate-related hardship, poor mental […]

Climate change in the High Court of Australia: Will a coal mine’s contribution to climate change cause likely environmental impacts ‘in the locality’?

Nick Scott, Harj Narulla, Nicholas Young, Michael Burger, Harro van Asselt, Jessica Wentz and Maria Antonia Tigre In May, the High Court of Australia (HCA) will hear MACH Energy Australia v Denman Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group & Anor (“Denman”), the first climate case to reach Australia’s apex court. […]