The Legal Lever

Reason for Hope

A record 814 GW of solar & wind capacity were installed globally in 2025, 20% more than 2024

That's enough capacity to

• Meet all of Japan’s electricity demand
• Offset roughly 15% of the world’s natural gas generation

https://ember-energy.org/latest-updates/world-adds-a-record-breaking-814-gw-of-solar-and-wind-in-2025/

https://ember-energy.org/countries-and-regions/japan/

Main Topic

Legal action in the Philippines

2015 investigation into potential human rights violations by 47 of largest fossil fuel and cemet companies

2025 case against Shell is first climate-related personal injury and property damage case of its scale

Sources

https://www.greenpeace.org/philippines/the-climate-change-human-rights-inquiry-archive/

https://www.greenpeace.org/philippines/press/68662/filipino-communities-to-sue-shell-for-damages-linked-to-super-typhoon-odette/

Fossil fuel companies in the U.S. trying to avoid accountability

• Asked supreme court five times in last three years to intervene to stop lawsuits
• Pushing Congress for immunity
• Their latest appeal looks to overturn ruling by Colorado supreme court on lawsuit brought by city and county of Boulder, Colorado

Sources

https://www.desmog.com/2025/12/07/exxons-next-supreme-court-play/

https://bouldercounty.gov/news/u-s-supreme-court-decides-to-hear-climate-case-against-exxonmobil-and-suncor-entities/

Climate cases in Australia

Case brought by school children

‍https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-15/federal-court-judgement-on-climate-change-government-doc/100909214

Case brought by elders from Torres Straight Islands

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly8pwed355o

Rollback of endangerment finding in U.S.

• Court rouled the U.S. Department of Energy violated the law convening a secret climate working group
• Working group "findings" were used as basis to rollback endangerment finding

Sources

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/climate/energy-department-climate-ruling.html

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