Professor Nathalie Chalifour's latest piece on climate change, featured in Corporate Knights, addresses the topic of climate litigation. Drawing on a series of recent climate-related cases around the world, including several from Canada, Professor Chalifour remarks that "[t]he question for Canada is not so much whether climate litigation will come here (it already has), but rather which climate-based lawsuit will be the first to win."
She further notes that "[t]he success of a climate-based Charter challenge will depend on a number of factors, including who would bring the case, what government conduct would be challenged and whether the courts would accept the causal link between the present and future harms of climate change and the government’s management of GHG emissions." Climate litigation has not been uncontroversial, and it will be interesting to see how it develops in Canada. As with many other environmental concerns, the actions and decisions of citizens, lawmakers, and judges will all be crucial in addressing the issues and the impacts posed by climate change.