A Case for the Climate

ELAW partners from around the world enjoy a field trip on the Oregon Coast during the 2015 ELAW Annual Meeting.

ELAW partners around the world are collaborating to seek justice for the communities that are poised to suffer the worst consequences of climate change. A feature in this week’s Eugene Weekly highlights ELAW’s work.

Climate scientists Peter Frumhoff from the Union of Concerned Scientists and Richard Heede of the Climate Accountability Institute met with ELAW partners from 30 countries last week to strategize on the way forward.

ELAW prepared a report assessing courts where citizens might pursue climate justice. Staff Attorney Jennifer Gleason says Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Kenya, and Mexico are jurisdictions where laws about remedying damages “seem really well-designed to address the damages happening from climate change.”

ELAW partners hope to draw on the work of the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Climate Accountability Institute to hold corporations accountable for the carbon and methane emissions that are wreaking havoc on the earth’s climate. “Companies have made billions producing and selling products that damage the climate,” says Bern Johnson, ELAW Executive Director. “It’s only fair that these companies pay for some of the damage they have caused.”

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Maggie Keenan
Communications Director
Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide