Climate Law & Liability

In the Latest Rights of Nature Case, a Tribe Is Suing Seattle on Behalf of Salmon in the Skagit River

The rights of nature movement, which seeks to give animals and other entities in the natural world the same legal protections as human beings, is spawning laws and lawsuits all over the world.

By Katie Surma

In San Francisco’s Most Polluted Neighborhood, the Polluters Operate Without Proper Permits, Reports Say

By Elena Shao

The Essential Advocate, Philippe Sands Makes the Case for a New International Crime Called Ecocide

By Katie Surma

The Amazon is the Planet’s Counterweight to Global Warming, a Place of Stupefying Richness Under Relentless Assault

By Georgina Gustin

A Plea to Make Widespread Environmental Damage an International Crime Takes Center Stage at The Hague

By Katie Surma

‘A Trash Heap for Our Children’: How Norilsk, in the Russian Arctic, Became One of the Most Polluted Places on Earth

By Marianne Lavelle

More Young People Don’t Want Children Because of Climate Change. Has the UN Failed to Protect Them?

By Elena Shao

To Stop Line 3 Across Minnesota, an Indigenous Tribe Is Asserting the Legal Rights of Wild Rice

By Katie Surma

Is it Time for the World Court to Weigh in on Climate Change?

By Katie Surma

Does Nature Have Rights? A Burgeoning Legal Movement Says Rivers, Forests and Wildlife Have Standing, Too

By Katie Surma

Are Bolsonaro’s Attacks on the Amazon and Indigenous Tribes International Crimes? A Third Court Plea Says They Are

By Katie Surma

Houston’s Mayor Asks EPA to Probe Contaminants at Rail Site Associated With Nearby Cancer Clusters

By Aman Azhar

Indigenous Leaders and Human Rights Groups in Brazil Want Bolsonaro Prosecuted for Crimes Against Humanity

By Katie Surma

In a Growing Campaign to Criminalize Widespread Environmental Destruction, Legal Experts Define a New Global Crime: ‘Ecocide’

By Katie Surma, Inside Climate News, and Yuliya Talmazan, NBC News

Dutch Court Gives Shell Nine Years to Cut Its Carbon Emissions by 45 Percent from 2019 Levels

By Kristoffer Tigue, Dan Gearino

For the Second Time in Four Years, the Ninth Circuit Has Ordered the EPA to Set New Lead Paint and Dust Standards

By Agya K. Aning

The Supreme Court Sidesteps a Full Climate Change Ruling, Handing Industry a Procedural Win

By David Hasemyer

As the Climate Crisis Grows, a Movement Gathers to Make ‘Ecocide’ an International Crime Against the Environment

By Nicholas Kusnetz, Katie Surma, Yuliya Talmazan

Ecocide: Should Destruction of the Planet Be a Crime?

By David Sassoon