Climate Litigation: How Lawsuits Are Shaping Environmental Policy
When governments and corporations fail to act on climate change, people are taking them to court. This is climate litigation, the use of legal systems to demand action on climate change, often by holding polluters accountable or enforcing environmental protections. Also known as climate change litigation, it’s no longer just about stopping a single pipeline—it’s about rewriting the rules of responsibility. Across the U.S., Europe, and the Global South, citizens, NGOs, and even cities are suing for their right to a livable future. These aren’t symbolic cases. They’re forcing real policy shifts, like Germany’s 2021 ruling that forced the government to strengthen its climate targets because they violated youth rights.
Climate litigation doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s tied directly to climate migration, the movement of people forced to leave their homes due to climate-driven disasters like floods, droughts, and sea-level rise. Right now, over 20 million people are displaced by climate events every year—yet no international law recognizes them as refugees. That’s why lawsuits are starting to target governments that ignore internal displacement, like the case in Louisiana where communities sued over failed flood protections. Similarly, legal frameworks, the rules and systems that govern environmental rights and responsibilities across nations are being tested. In the EU, courts are applying human rights laws to climate policy. In the Pacific, island nations are pushing the International Court of Justice to define legal obligations for high-emitting countries. And in the U.S., states like California and New York are using state-level environmental statutes to sue fossil fuel companies for damages.
What’s clear is that climate litigation is becoming a tool for those left out of political negotiations. It’s not about winning big settlements—it’s about setting precedents. One case can trigger a domino effect: a ruling in the Netherlands forced Shell to cut emissions, and now similar suits are popping up in Nigeria, France, and Australia. These cases are also exposing gaps in environmental law, the body of regulations designed to protect ecosystems and public health from pollution and degradation. Many laws were written before climate science was understood. Now, courts are being asked to interpret them in new ways—like using the public trust doctrine to argue that governments must protect the atmosphere as a shared resource.
You won’t find every climate lawsuit in the news, but you’ll find their impact in policy changes, corporate disclosures, and shifting public opinion. Below, you’ll see real cases that shaped how we think about responsibility, justice, and survival in a warming world—from how cities protect their residents to how international courts are being asked to step in where politics won’t.
