Ep 32: Climate litigation - how courts can build political will

When the Ontario government, led by Premier Doug Ford, reduced the province's carbon emission targets, seven young Ontarians took the Ford government to court. They are suing the government for weakening environmental standards and making them more vulnerable to sickness. This is one of many climate cases around the world, where people are increasingly taking their governments to ensure they are moving the needle on the climate instead of making empty promises to their votebanks to wield power. The Netherlands vs Urgenda was one such case that resulted in an unexpected victory. In a nutshell, Urgenda, a climate organisation, took the Dutch government to court to urge the them to more to mitigate climate change. And they won! One of the first such victories, setting a standard for other similar cases around the world. So this is what I focus on in this episode, where I speak to Karinne Lantz, a law professor at Dalhousie University in Canada.