Positive climate stories in April

Written By Hannah Jolliffe

It’s been a brilliant month for climate law, with the first-ever greenwashing lawsuit heard against an aviation company, new laws to protect deforestation and a raft of climate change reforms passed in European Parliament. All that, and thousands turn out to tell our government to stop supporting fossil fuels…

1. First-ever greenwashing lawsuit is heard against an aviation company

With the support of ClientEarth, Dutch climate citizen movement Fossielvrij took airline KLM to court in Amsterdam over greenwashing claims.

The claimants argue that KLM is breaching EU consumer law by using a misleading narrative with its ‘Fly Responsibly’ campaign. The marketing advertises flying as sustainable by pointing out the uptake of CO2 offsetting measures and alternative fuels, when really KLM is pursuing unsustainable growth.

This case builds on a previous decision by the Dutch advertising watchdog which ruled against KLM. While greenwashing litigation has targeted aviation companies before, to our knowledge, these proceedings have only been brought before national advertising standards authorities. For instance, the UK’s advertising watchdog called out Etihad Airways and Lufthansa for greenwashing earlier this year and banned their ads.

We’re really excited about this case because it’s the first time an aviation company has been challenged in court over sustainability marketing. As ClientEarth’s lawyer Johnny White says:

“This case is about putting a stop to the aviation narrative that they are tackling climate change whilst they pursue unsustainable air traffic growth. We have to tackle airline industry greenwash because it is undermining the world’s efforts to combat the climate emergency. It’s really important because it could set a precedent with wide international impact”.

Despite confirming it would pull its ‘Fly Responsibly’ marketing, KLM offered no commitments about future advertising. The court will now decide if Fossielvrij’s lawsuit is admissible and we hope to see it taken further in court in the coming months.

2. Companies must ensure products have not led to deforestation under new law

A new law has been passed meaning that companies selling products sold in the EU must ensure they have not led to deforestation and forest degradation.

Suppliers must now issue a “due diligence” statement on products sold in the EU, including cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soya, wood, rubber, charcoal and printed paper products. This should confirm that the product does not come from deforested land and has not led to forest degradation.

Rapporteur Christophe Hansen (EPP, LU) said:

“Until today, our supermarket shelves have all too often been filled with products covered in the ashes of burned-down rainforests and irreversibly destroyed ecosystems and which had wiped out the livelihoods of indigenous people. All too often, this happened without consumers knowing about it.”

This is a huge win for climate and biodiversity, but it also has wider positive implications on human rights. Companies must also comply with the relevant legislation of the country of production, including on human rights, and show that the rights of affected indigenous people have been respected.

This is exactly the kind of legislation we support; where environmental and social needs are addressed fairly and equally so that people and planet are protected.

3. Thousands turn out in Westminster in support of climate change

Dubbed ‘The Big One’ by its organisers Extinction Rebellion, this four-day protest involved tens of thousands of activists and was backed by more than 200 organisations, including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.

The main demonstration took place on Earth Day (Saturday 22 April) and delivered a bold message to government to ban all new oil and gas projects. This included a call to stop more than 100 new oil exploration licences being offered to companies.

The former archbishop John Sentamu was involved in the demonstrations. He attempted to deliver a letter to Shell’s chief executive, Wael Sawan, but was refused access. In a statement, he said:

“Climate change is the greatest insidious and brutal indiscriminate force of our time. The people suffering the most have done the least to cause it.”

In January Extinction Rebellion announced that they were moving away from disruptive tactics in favour of greater collaboration with different protest groups, saying “we must find common ground and unite to survive.”

The volume of support they generated at The Big One was nothing short of brilliant, with 100,000 people turning out over four days. The government may have failed to respond to their demands, but the sheer scale of the demonstrations cannot be ignored.

4. The Irish Citizens’ Assembly’s solutions for the biodiversity crisis

This month saw the launch of the recommendations and report of the Irish Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss in Dublin – the first of this kind worldwide.

The report spans over 150 recommendations which explore powerful solutions to enhance Ireland’s relationship with the national environment:

  • At the centre of these recommendations is the clear request for the State to take urgent action to address the biodiversity loss crisis.

  • Next to demanding increased ambition, the report also points out the current implementation gap of existing laws and policies.

  • The report also suggests amending the Constitution to guarantee a right to a healthy environment.

  • Lastly, the Citizens’ Assembly recommends amending the Constitution to include rights of nature.

We welcome this important step in addressing the biodiversity crisis which is intimately linked to the climate crisis. It’s also positive to see that the Citizens’ Assembly is keeping up with important international trends.

Only last summer, the United Nations General Assembly declared the right to a healthy environment. And there is a growing number of countries that are granting nature rights – with Ecuador being at the forefront of this movement by equipping nature (Pachamama) with constitutional rights over a decade ago.

As climate citizens’ assemblies are gaining increased popularity as a governance tool to respond to the climate crisis, we are thrilled to see subject matters expand to connected issues such as biodiversity loss.

5. World’s first CO2 tariff approved in European Parliament

Climate change policies are set to become more ambitious, thanks to a range of sweeping reforms agreed in the European Parliament this month.

A new cost on imports of high-carbon goods called the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) has been approved by the European Parliament, to be phased in from 2026.

CBAM applies a cost to certain carbon-intensive goods entering the EU based on their carbon emissions, and is intended to address the risk of ‘carbon leakage’ (where production of carbon-intensive goods is relocated to countries outside of the EU with lower levels of environmental regulation).

The European Parliament also approved the proposed reform of the Emissions Trading System (ETS), the EU’s carbon market, to increase its ambition to cut GHG emissions in ETS sectors by 62% by 2030 (from a 2005 baseline).

The measures include phasing out the free ETS allowances to industries from 2026. These were free allowances used to retain the competitiveness of the ETS industries, that will now be wound-down in parallel with the phasing-in of CBAM.

The aviation sector’s free allowances will be phased out by 2026 and some progress has been made on a framework for evaluating the non-CO2 impacts of aviation. We’re especially pleased that shipping emissions will be included in the ETS for the first time.

There are also plans to launch a new EU carbon market (“ETS II”) in 2027. This will cover emissions from fuels used in road transport and buildings.

What positive climate stories have lifted your spirits this month? Share it with us on Twitter or LinkedIn and we’ll help to spread the word.

Additional reporting by Isa Keuschnigg and David Kay.

Hannah Jolliffe

Hannah is our Communications Director. She has a track record of using content, comms and storytelling to help charities, businesses and brands amplify their mission.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannahjolliffe/
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