Landmark Legal Challenge Against Irish Government On Climate Change

Landmark Legal Challenge

The Irish Government's alleged failure to mitigate climate change is the subject of a legal challenge taken by Friends of the Irish Environment CLG (FIE) against the Irish Government.1 The judicial review proceedings were heard before the High Court in January 2019. This is the first time a case of this nature has come before the Irish courts and its outcome may have far-reaching legal and political consequences. The written judgement will be delivered at a later date and this post sets out the arguments advanced by both parties.

The case is one which has garnered widespread media coverage and intense public interest.2 FIE argued before a packed courtroom that the 2017 National Mitigation Plan (the 'Plan') does not adequately provide for the necessary decarbonisation of Ireland's economy and therefore breaches the Climate Change and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 (the '2015 Act').[3 Furthermore, human rights of Irish citizens are potentially violated. FIE therefore sought an order to have the Plan quashed and remitted to the Government for redrafting. The Government's response was essentially as follows: (i) the Plan cannot be judicially reviewed as to do so would breach the separation of powers doctrine, (ii) the Government have not breached their human rights obligations as a result of approving the Plan, the execution of which depends on many complex factors, and (iii) FIE lacks locus standi.

Ireland's Climate Change Obligations

Mr Justice Michael McGrath heard from Mr Eoin McCullough SC, for FIE, that Ireland has the third highest emissions per capita in the EU and that its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are rising rather than falling. This is at odds with the conclusions of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change that developed countries must reduce their emissions by between 25% and 40% from 1990 levels by 2020 if runaway climate change is to be avoided. The Paris Agreement requires rapid emissions reductions to be undertaken in order to keep global warming to "well below" 2°C relative to pre-industrial times. Signatory states, including Ireland, must put forward ambitious nationally determined contributions to attain this goal. Ireland's contribution is captured by the EU's overall commitment to reduce GHG emissions by 80% by 2050. The Court heard that Ireland is "completely off course" in meeting its 2020 emissions reduction targets, with knock-on effects for future compliance. As a result, it faces...