Date: 2023
Type: Article
From Urgenda to Klimaatzaak : a new chapter in climate litigation
Verfassungsblatt, 2023, No. 12, pp. 1962-1964
GRIEGLEB, Alice, DE SPIEGELEIR, Antoine, From Urgenda to Klimaatzaak : a new chapter in climate litigation, Verfassungsblatt, 2023, No. 12, pp. 1962-1964
- https://hdl.handle.net/1814/77257
Retrieved from Cadmus, EUI Research Repository
On November 30, 2023, the Brussels Court of Appeal handed down its ruling in VZW Klimaatzaak v. Kingdom of Belgium & Others, commonly known as “the Belgian climate case.” The ruling is clear: Belgian authorities failed to participate adequately in the global effort to curb global warming, and they must imperatively reduce their emissions. Partially reversing the first instance judgment, the Court of Appeal not only found in favor of the plaintiffs but also imposed binding minimum greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets to be achieved by 2030, thereby following in the footsteps of the Dutch Urgenda case. Subscribing fully to Matthias Petel and Norman Vander Putten’s sharp analysis of how this litigation saga embodies tensions between climate justice and the separation of powers, we wish to highlight three remarkable aspects of the case. After quickly summarizing the first instance judgment and last week’s ruling, we begin by touching on the elephant in the (court)room: the articulation of the available scientific evidence with the limits of courts’ power of review and injunction. Then, we say a word about the Brussels Court of Appeal’s thorough application of European human rights law. We finish by deploring, as did the Court, Belgian federalism’s inefficiencies.
Additional information:
First published online on Verfassungblog: 05 December 2023
Cadmus permanent link: https://hdl.handle.net/1814/77257
Full-text via DOI: 10.17176/20231205-104328-0
ISSN: 2366-7044
External link: https://verfassungsblog.de/from-urgenda-to-klimaatzaak/
Publisher: Verfassungsblog
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