ČPŽP 45 3/2017

3/2017

STUDENTSKÉ VÝZKUMNÉ OKÉNKO

CLIMATE CHANGE BEFORE THE COURT: CASE OF URGENDA FOUNDATION V THE STATE OF THE NETHERLANDS Summary In June 2015, the District Court of The Hague rendered a remarkable judgement that attracted attention across the world. The case was initiated by the Urgenda Foundation and 886 individual plaintiffs against the State of the Netherlands. The Court ordered the State to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25% by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. This is the first time a government has been held civilly liable for a climate policy. The first part of this paper provides an analysis of the case. It further considers the judgment from an EU law perspective. The attention is also paid to the competence of the Court to decide the case with respect to the trias politica principle. The final part deals with the potential transportability of the case in the Czech Republic and inquires whether it would be possible to achieve the same objective by other means. Key words: Urgenda, climate change, global warming, climate change litigation ♠♠

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