On October 17, 2024, Ontario’s Court of Appeal sided with a group of young climate activists in its Mathur v Ontario decision, reviving a case against the province which was previously dismissed in April 2023.

At COP26, delegates and other notable persons from the worlds of politics, business, and finance announced various pacts and initiatives, some better received than others. Here is a summary of the conference in 10 points covering its five greatest achievements and five most notable failures.

Canada will join a global initiative led by the United States and European Union to reduce methane emissions 30% from 2020 levels by 2030.

The European Union’s executive branch, the European Commission, last week unveiled its ‘Fit for 55’ climate plan: an ambitious set of policy and regulatory proposals aimed at lowering the bloc’s net emissions by “at least” 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. In this piece, we’ve put together an overview of the plan’s principal components.

Last week, Canada’s largest city endorsed the call for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty, and approved a new green building standard and net zero existing buildings strategy, both of which will put the city “on a solid path to a net zero future.”

Last week, the Hague district court ordered oil giant Royal Dutch Shell to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 45% from 2019 levels by 2030. The ruling appears to mark the first instance of a court requiring a major corporation to lower emissions on account of their climate impact.

The lawsuit alleges Ontario’s provincial government, under the leadership of Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford, violated the s. 7 (life, liberty and security of the person) and s. 15 (equal protection) Charter rights of the plaintiffs and future generations when it cancelled Ontario’s cap and trade program and adopted a new, less-ambitious climate plan as compared with the previous government’s.

The case La Rose et. al. v. Her Majesty the Queen was filed last October by several young Canadian plaintiffs, with support from Oregon-based non-profit law firm Our Children’s Trust. The lawsuit alleges the Canadian government violated the plaintiffs’ rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by failing to take meaningful action to prevent anthropogenic climate change.

On July 31st, Ireland’s Supreme Court held that the Irish government’s current climate plan failed to meet the requirements set out in the statutory Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act of 2015. The ruling will require the government to (a) revise its plan to realise greater near-term emission reductions, and (b) better specify how Ireland will achieve the Act’s long-term objective of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.