Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Plan B Earth v Prime Minister: Administrative Court refuses climate JR: Paris Agreement non-justiciable; CCA 2008 framework adequate; Articles 2, 8, 14 ECHR claims fail (England and Wales)

Published on: 08 February 2022

Published by a LexisNexis Environment expert

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What are the practical implications of this case?

This claim sits among numerous legal actions worldwide accusing governments of failing to act to fulfil their Paris Agreement climate obligations and of infringing various human rights. It highlights the markedly growing prevalence of rights-based climate claims, with many claimants invoking human rights as a tool for holding defendants to account for their climate commitments. While the court acknowledged that climate-related matters are of great importance, the judgment equally exposes the considerable challenge of using litigation in the English courts to contest the UK government’s climate conduct under current domestic law. Regarding the Paris Agreement arguments, the court determined that English courts have no jurisdiction to rule on whether the government has breached obligations arising under an unincorporated international treaty. The court also observed that, since there is an administrative framework already in place to confront the risks posed by climate change, and this comprises high. In effect, without incorporation into domestic law, such treaty-based duties cannot be enforced through these proceedings, and attempts to challenge governmental policy are necessarily constrained where a structured scheme exists to address climate risks, one which the court considered to be of an especially high...

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