Climate change liability been discussed by legal scholars for about 10 years. (There are two good edited books on the topic.) See eg https://www.law.upenn.edu/journals/lawreview/articles/volume155/issue6/Farber155U.Pa.L.Rev.1605(2007).pdf http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andre_Nollkaemper/publication/228218842_International_Liability_as_an_Instrument_to_Prevent_and_Compensate_for_Climate_Change/links/00b495231d2fef0dc1000000.pdf It is very difficult. International liability is mostly limited to a few specific matters with their own treaty regimes (oil spills, nuclear power, space activities). More generally, if a country doesn’t follow certain standards of due process and another country is harmed from the former’s activities, then the former can be held responsible but actual liability is highly uncertain. What’s more, all countries cause, benefit from, and are harmed by greenhouse gas emissions. International law operates on the consent of states, so any new liability agreement would require the consent of the countries that would be held liable. So this appears to be something of a dead end.
Liability within a country might have some grounds. This is not my expertise, but I know that the plaintiff must demonstrate that he/she has actually been harmed, which under present circumstances is difficult. This may change in a decade or two. The tobacco case is partially instructive, but this was settled out of court, and the causation was more proximate. (The person who smokes gets lunch cancer etc. GHGs work through more intermediaries and with more confounding factors.) Note that the tobacco settlement was possible because US states were already bringing action for their Medicaid expenses. Perhaps if states and municipalities could argue that their expenses, such as adaptation and infrastructure maintenance, have increased due to climate change, then there might be some traction there. There could also be a class action lawsuit, but victims can also be negligent. That is, if a farmer should reasonably know about climate change and how to adapt to it, but fails to do so, then he/she may not be able to recover damages. Cheers Jesse ----------------------------------------- Jesse L. Reynolds, PhD Postdoctoral researcher Research funding coordinator, sustainability and climate European and International Public Law Tilburg Sustainability Center Tilburg University, The Netherlands Book review editor, Law, Innovation, and Technology email: j.l.reyno...@uvt.nl<mailto:j.l.reyno...@uvt.nl> http://works.bepress.com/jessreyn/ From: geoengineering@googlegroups.com [mailto:geoengineering@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Greg Rau Sent: 03 November 2015 16:37 To: geoengineering <geoengineering@googlegroups.com> Subject: Re: [geo] Offtopic klein - Potential Liability of Governments for Failure to Prepare for Climate Change Relatedly, what is the liability of individuals and corporations who actively (and successfully) impede efforts to address and prepare for climate change? e.g.: http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/10/30/seething-anger-probe-demanded-exxons-unparalleled-climate-crime http://350.org/the-department-of-justice-must-investigate-exxonmobil/ Greg ________________________________ From: Andrew Lockley <andrew.lock...@gmail.com<mailto:andrew.lock...@gmail.com>> To: geoengineering <geoengineering@googlegroups.com<mailto:geoengineering@googlegroups.com>> Sent: Monday, November 2, 2015 10:54 PM Subject: [geo] Offtopic klein - Potential Liability of Governments for Failure to Prepare for Climate Change Poster's note : broadly relevant to a range of climate change areas, but perhaps useful in discussion of legal framework for compelling geoengineering research klein Potential Liability of Governments for Failure to Prepare for Climate ChangeThis paper examines whether governments can expose themselves to potential legal liability by turning a blind eye to the accumulating risks of climate change. Specifically, the paper addresses potential claims sounding in negligence, fraud, and takings, describing the benefits and challenges of each theory. The paper explores ways to overcome a government’s claim of sovereign immunity in the context of a negligence claim, noting in particular the common government waiver of immunity for claims arising out of dangerous conditions of government owned property. The paper describes the challenges of bringing a claim for fraud where officials intentionally obscure relevant information about climate change risks, including the sovereign immunity defense as well as difficulties proving causation and intent in this context. Finally, the paper explores claims for just compensation where a government causes property to be damaged or destroyed through its failure to prevent the impacts of climate change, and concludes that this type of suit is the most promising of the three. If claims under any of these theories are successful, such litigation could be used to promote climate change adaptation by encouraging governments to weigh the costs and benefits of both action and inaction in the face of the increasing risk of natural disasters. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<mailto:geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. To post to this group, send email to geoengineering@googlegroups.com<mailto:geoengineering@googlegroups.com>. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<mailto:geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. To post to this group, send email to geoengineering@googlegroups.com<mailto:geoengineering@googlegroups.com>. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to geoengineering@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
