Paris Agreement — Legal Precedents

Legal Precedents

Urgenda Foundation v. State of the Netherlands

2019

This landmark Dutch Supreme Court ruling established that governments have human rights obligations to protect citizens from climate change, ordering the Netherlands to reduce…

M.C. Mehta v. Union of India (Vehicular Pollution Case)

2018

The Supreme Court of India recognized climate change as a pressing issue requiring immediate action and directed the government to consider climate change impacts in all policy…

Massachusetts v. EPA

2007

Though predating the Paris Agreement, this US Supreme Court case established that greenhouse gases are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act and that EPA has authority to…