Legal issues

Overview

Climate change is one of the biggest global challenges of our time: it may eventually, but irreversibly, lead to an uninhabitable world. Given the urgency of having to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and a perceived lack of sufficient climate action and ambition around the globe, NGOs and individuals are increasingly turning to the courts to sue States, governmental authorities, and private entities for failing to take appropriate climate action and hold them accountable for their past actions, for failing to comply with existing climate obligations and regulations, and for their current lack of ambition through climate-related litigation. Such court actions may also be brought against central banks and supervisors. 

As the first NGFS report on climate-related litigation (2021) reported it, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney had already highlighted in 2015 that risks arising from such litigation are “significant, uncertain and non-linear” and “will only increase as the science and evidence of climate change hardens.”

The objective of the Experts’ Network on Legal Issues (the ‘Experts’ Network’), created in 2022, is mainly to monitor legal developments and in particular climate and nature-related litigation and legislation across the Membership. The Experts’ Network fosters a regular dialogue within the NGFS community on legal topics to sharpen expertise and contribute to collective capacity building. This initiative is key to provide the NGFS with up-to-date expertise on climate and nature-related legal topics.

Chairs’ institutions

The EN Legal is chaired by Chiara Zilioli (European Central Bank).

Recent publications