Failure to adapt professional advice or services

Failure to adapt professional advice
or services
– Failure of fiduciaries related to the
above
FAILURE TO MITIGATE
GHG EMISSIONS
In Clyde & Co’s last report on Climate
Liability Risk, Rising Tide ,
228
we considered
climate-related cases brought against
governments for failure to adhere to and
implement policy in line with the Paris
Agreement and other international or other
international or national commitments.
We also considered the tort cases that
have been brought primarily in the US
against those considered responsible
for GHG emissions, including oil majors,
airlines and others, which seek to link the
extraction and sale of fossil fuels to loss
and damage caused by climate change.
For example, in Lliuya v RWE , a Peruvian
farmer is pursuing a case in a German
court against RWE, Germany’s largest
electricity producer, alleging that RWE
knowingly contributed to climate change
by emitting substantial volumes of GHGs
and thus bears a share of responsibility for
the melting of mountain glaciers near Mr
Lliuya’s home town of Huaraz, Peru.
67
228
Nigel Brook and Neil Beresford, Report: Climate change - the evolving landscape of litigation, 2019,

229
Marco Poggio, Climate Liability News, Toronto Will Explore Suing Big Oil for Climate Costs, 2019,
230
Ucilia Wang, Climate Liability News, Paris, Inspired by New York City, Considers Climate Suit Against Oil Companies, 2018,
231
Kaitlin Sullivan, Climate Liability News, Hawaii Leaders Mull Potential of Climate Liability Cases
,
232
Nigel Brook and Neil Beresford, Clyde & Co, Report: Climate change - the evolving landscape of litigation , 2019,
233
Tyler J. Kelley, The New York Times, The Fight to Tame a Swelling River With Dams That May Be Outmatched by Climate
Change , 2019,
In the US, a number of cases have been
brought by cities and municipalities
including New York, Boulder, Seattle,
San Francisco and Baltimore against oil
majors seeking compensation for the
costs of adapting to climate change. The
tide of direct climate litigation in tort
related to GHG emissions continues to
rise, with reports of Toronto 229 , Paris 230 and
Hawaii 231 potentially expanding the list of
city or state governments contemplating
litigation against emitters for costs of
adaptation to climate change.
Litigants against GHG emitters have
shown creativity in both approach and
targets and also by developing new
theories of causation. These cases have
been largely unsuccessful in court.
232
However, if any of the current cases result
in successful judgments, the damages
would be substantial and could cause a
ripple effect across jurisdictions. The legal
costs of defending such claims are also
significant. For more detail on these cases,
their bases and the strategies adopted
by the plaintiffs to date, see Clyde & Co’s
Rising Tide report.