Brazil is the fifth country with the highest number of climate change-related cases in court

a Brazil It is the fifth country in terms of the number of climate litigation cases – actions against companies and governments that aggravate Climate change Secondly, in the courts, according to the report Global Trends in Climate Disputes: 2023 Snapshotreleased this Wednesday, 28th, by the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and Environment Research at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

With 40 cases in total, the country is trailing only the United States (1,590), Australia (130), the United Kingdom (102) and Germany (59).

Although the procedures are more common in rich countries, the researchers who led the study, the Brazilian Joanna Setzer and the British Catherine Higham, both from the London School of Economics and Political Science, point out that the trend is accelerating in emerging and poor countries, especially since 2020.

Setzer states that the situation in which Brazil finds itself is directly related to the increase in registration In the Amazon and the weakening of climate policy during the government Jair Bolsonaro.

The survey also indicates that large corporations and governments remain the main target of actions. Moreover, the financial sector and trade associations are increasingly in the firing line of climate litigation.

The researchers say that the number of cases is due to the fact that cases of “green embezzlement” have grown exponentially in 2022.

For them, the fact that so many well-known companies are participating casts doubt on their climate commitments and the validity of their Net Zero goals.

For the study authors, the trend is for operations to focus more and more on how published climate solutions are implemented in practice.

“The rise in cases against the corporate entities highlighted in this report should sound alarm bells in boardrooms and give those without solid Paris-compliant business plans pause for thought,” says Laura Clark, CEO of ClientEarth. .