Positive Climate Stories in May
From Hamburg to London and with special appearances from bison and whales, May was a particularly big month for climate law and biodiversity! Read on to find out more about this month’s highlights…
1. Climate justice victory at ITLOS
It can’t be understated how monumental the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea’s (ITLOS) long-anticipated Advisory Opinion turned out to be.
The opinion, the first addressing climate change from an international court, was originally requested to clarify States’ legal obligations with regards to the law of the sea. The result marked both a watershed moment for climate law and a tremendous victory for climate justice.
Our main takeaways from the opinion included:
Greenhouse gas emissions constitute pollution of the marine environment under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS);
It is not enough for States to just meet their Paris Agreement obligations, they must also comply with the provisions of UNCLOS pertaining to climate change;
The Tribunal recognised as “inequitable” the situation that developing and climate vulnerable states suffer the most from the climate crisis while having contributed least to causing it.
We owe a debt for this climate justice victory to COSIS, the alliance of nine small island developing states that requested the opinion in December 2022, and the climate vulnerable countries on the forefront of the climate crisis. Our Legal Assistant Olivia Moyle in Hamburg for the opinion’s reading was struck by the atmosphere:
There was an immediate sense of gravity in the room not least because the judge ruled so positively on legal obligations and principles Opportunity Green had included in its written statement to ITLOS. Following the reading, COSIS representatives spoke movingly on the interconnections between climate change and their livelihoods, what’s at stake if States don’t take their climate commitments seriously and the very little time we have to turn things around. This really brought home the implications the Advisory Opinion will have on States’ inaction; they can now be held to account under international law.
The opinion is especially important as it is just the first of three advisory opinions on climate change to be released by international courts, with those from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IActHR) on their way too. The ITLOS opinion will pave the way for the further entrenchment of States’ obligations to fight climate change in these later opinions.
Read Olivia’s Twitter/X takeover from Hamburg, and our full press release on the opinion. Looking to go back to basics? Olivia also made this brilliant explainer video on what ITLOS is and why the opinion was so important.
2. UK government’s climate strategy is still not fit for purpose says court
Moving from international tribunals to national courts, the UK government once again found itself in the squeeze last month. In 2022 Client Earth, Friends of the Earth and the Good Law Project took the UK government to the High Court for its inadequate net zero plan, and the Court ruled in their favour. Two years and one revised government net zero strategy later, history has repeated itself.
Even after its amendments, the government plan was still found to be in violation of the Climate Change Act with the conclusion of a second successful case at the High Court brought by the same three organisations.
The arguments in the 2022 case centred on the government’s failure to show sufficient emissions reduction to meet its carbon budget. This year’s case additionally addressed the government’s failure to adequately account for the risk of missing targets and over-reliance on uncertain technologies.
The case presents another key victory in holding our governments accountable for their legal responsibility to combat the climate crisis. Whether the UK will step up to the mark or find itself back in the dock depends on how it changes its strategy, which it has 12 months now to do. The clock is ticking.
3. Vancouver takes action against LNG
Vancouver saw an inspiring display of climate action this month when activists from five environmental organisations presented a petition of 113,987 signatures to the British Columbian cabinet office in opposition to fracking and LNG.
The Canadian city hosts the annual Canada Gas Exhibition and Conference, and this is the third in a row that has prompted a wave of protest in response. Alongside presenting the petition, demonstrators painted murals and held banners outside the event.
In recent years, Canada has made moves to sell LNG made from gas fracked in British Columbia to east Asian markets. Activists on both sides of Pacific have been opposing such moves with South Korean and Japanese environmentalists also decrying attempts to paint LNG as a step towards decarbonisation.
See our own work debunking such greenwashing in our report ‘(Un)Sustainable from ship to shore’.
4. Romanian bison doing their bit to combat carbon emissions
Just 10 years after being reintroduced to the Țarcu mountains, 200 years after first disappearing from the Romanian range, bison are proving their worth in the climate cause. According to the Yale School of Environment, the 170 bison settled by the WWF and Rewild Europe in 2014 could be storing the CO2 equivalent of 43,000 cars just through their interactions with their ecosystem. This includes grazing, fertilising plants, and compacting the soil with their hefty weight preventing CO2 stored in the earth from being released.
Nature-based solutions to climate change such as rewilding are increasingly popular, and this is a great example of the lengths they can go to to improve our shared climate and restore our ever-decreasing biodiversity.
5. New south whales
Australian scientists have found new evidence of increasing blue whale populations in the Southern Sea, in a huge win for biodiversity. Despite centuries of whaling leaving Antarctic blue whale populations depleted, our big blue friends are increasingly announcing their presence with the melodic moans of whale song.
In the middle of the 20th century, blue whales were on the brink of extinction, making this latest finding that much more exciting. Above all it’s an inspiring reminder of nature’s ability to revive itself despite the damage humans have historically caused.
What positive climate stories have lifted your spirits this month? Share it with us on X or LinkedIn and we’ll help to spread the word.
