Outrage and Optimism
Justice for the Planet: The case for climate litigation
Published: 13 March 2025 at 06:00 UTC
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Episode notes
How can the law be used to champion human rights, drive progress and fight for climate justice? Paul Dickinson is joined by Laura Clarke, CEO of ClientEarth, the non-profit lawyers for the planet working to protect life on Earth.
Laura shares how ClientEarth has successfully challenged corporate greenwashing, from the Dutch courts ruling against airline KLM for misleading customers, to forcing a Polish company to change the misleading name of its ‘eco-pea coal’. And beyond corporate accountability, how they take on national governments to ensure they uphold their environmental commitments.
In this latest in our series on the new levers of change, co-presenters Tom Rivett-Carnac and Christiana Figueres join Paul to reflect on the ways in which law, climate and justice intersects. Christiana shares her excitement on the new ways in which the ‘web of jurisprudence’ is being woven in a field with little legal precedent.
Plus, each share their take on the news that former Outrage + Optimism guest Mark Carney will become the next Prime Minister of Canada. How will he deal with President Trump amid the ongoing US-Canada trade war?
Learn more
💼 ClientEarth case study: KLM Greenwashing found illegal
📖 Read more about ClientEarth https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/client-earth-james-thornton/3713181?ean=9781911344810
⚖️ Learn about how young people are taking action in court https://www.kcl.ac.uk/climate-law/assets/climatechangeandyoungpeople-shortversion.pdf
🛢️ Find out how big oil’s campaign financing for Donald Trump’s re-election may have prevented a congressional investigation
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/06/big-oil-investigation-congress-republicans
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Producer: Jarek Zaba
Video Producer: Caitlin Hanrahan
Exec Producer: Ellie Clifford
Commissioning Editor: Sarah Thomas
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