Each month, we bring you regular updates from our Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ) newsletter, which dives into the CEJ’s latest updates and insights.

Whether you are totally new to our work, or you’ve been familiar with us for a while, the Centre for Environmental Justice newsletter is a great way for you to stay informed in all of our legal, policy, and educational work in the area of environmental and climate justice.

Below, we’ve published our latest CEJ newsletter (September 2024), for you to get a taste of what’s in store when you sign up for updates.

To sign up to our CEJ newsletter today and ensure you stay updated, click here.

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Climate Justice for Future Generations Case 2024 – Ireland’s inadequate action on climate is a human rights violation.  

We’ve joined forces with a grandfather, a youth climate activist, and a child, to challenge government’s inadequate action on climate change.  

We’ve joined forces with a grandfather, a youth climate activist, and a child, to challenge inadequate action by the Government on climate change. This case, which was granted leave to proceed by the High Court on 9^th September, is the first of its kind in Ireland. 

Underlining this case is the ever more imminent threat of climate change to the fabric of our society, with the Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC) stating earlier this month that Irish people will become more vulnerable to extreme weather events, as will the economy, unless the Government implements measures to increase resilience in the face of inevitable climate disruption. 

Low income and marginalised groups, the groups CLM has represented since its establishment in Coolock almost 50 years ago, stand to be disproportionately impacted by climate change but have least opportunity to protect or vindicate their rights.  

Read on for more.

Climate Justice for Future Generations – Climate and Human Rights Case 

On September 9th, 2024, Community Law & Mediation, alongside a grandfather, a youth climate activist, and a child, were granted leave by the High Court to pursue a groundbreaking legal case against the Irish Government over its inadequate response to human-driven climate change. 

In taking this case, the first of its kind in Ireland, we are seeking a declaration from the Court that the Government is failing to comply with its own Climate and Low Carbon Development Act 2015.  

We argue that the 2024 Climate Action Plan (CAP24) falls short of the legal standards for meeting Ireland’s legally binding carbon budget, breaching the Act and undermining effective climate action.  

We are also seeking a declaration that the inadequate climate action infringes rights protected in our Constitution, the European Convention on Human Rights and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. 

This case builds on the successful Climate Case Ireland, whereby the Supreme Court quashed the country’s first national mitigation plan for failing to specify how it would achieve the national transition objective, as mandated by the 2015 Act. 

It also builds upon the landmark judgment from the Klimaseniorinnen case, where a group of Swiss elderly women took on Europe’s first climate case. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that that the Swiss government’s inadequate action on emissions (and of all States Parties to the ECHR) is a violation of Article 8 of the ECHR.    

Ultimately, in taking this case, we seek to provide collective recourse for the communities and future generations in Ireland that stand to be disproportionately impacted by climate change but have least opportunity to protect or vindicate their rights.   

This case is next listed for the 7th of October, 2024. 

Read some of the media coverage of this case here in the Irish Times, the Irish Independent,  the Irish Mirror, HotPress, the Law Society Gazette, Irish Legal News, and Euronews.   

This case will take place in parallel with two other key challenges we are involved in –  

• A separate High Court hearing, set for January 28th, 2025, will see CLM representing Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE), as we challenge the Irish Government’s Climate Action Plan 2023 and its Annex of Actions. FIE argues the government has failed to show how the plan will sufficiently cut emissions to meet Ireland’s legally binding carbon budgets, in violation of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act. 

• We are also supporting Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe and Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) in a landmark climate case against the European Commission. This case, announced on August 27th, 2024, could be the first where the European Court of Justice examines the adequacy of the EU’s climate targets. This case highlights the need for more ambitious EU targets to achieve at least a 65% emissions reduction by 2030, in line with the 1.5°C goal. A hearing is expected in late 2025, with a ruling in early 2026, potentially forcing the Commission to raise national emissions limits. 

Visit our website for further information and updates as these cases progress. 

Welcoming our new Environmental Justice Lawyer 

We are delighted to welcome our new Environmental Justice Lawyer, Justine Schönfeld-Quinn to the team at CLM and the Centre for Environmental Justice. Justine recently moved back to Ireland from Germany, having led a team of six lawyers at ClientEarth Berlin working on industrial emissions, industrial and agricultural chemicals, and climate laws. 

Free Legal Advice Clinics & Other Services:

As ever, we welcome all queries to our advice clinics, which are held on a monthly basis and can be accessed by phone, Zoom or in person. No query is too small.  

We can assist with a variety of environmental issues, such as a lack of environmental enforcement in relation to dumping, water pollution, dereliction; poor housing conditions such as cold and damp, poor access to sanitation and clean water; poor air quality; energy poverty and problems accessing retrofit schemes; and lack of access to green space and amenities. 

To book into a clinic, visit our online enquiry form. Once you submit the form, we will aim to be in touch within 48 hours with an appointment.  

Alternatively, you can phone us on 01 847 7804. 

Alongside our free legal advice clinics, the CEJ offers a variety of workshops, community talks and webinars, with the aim of empowering communities in relation to their environmental rights. 

If you would like to learn more about our community talks, workshops, or training, click here. 

If you wish to find out more about our work, please check out our website, or follow us on X, Facebook, LinkedIn or on Instagram.   

All the best, 

Rose Wall. 

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To sign up to our CEJ newsletter today and ensure you stay updated, click here.