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Paris (AFP) Jan 23, 2011 Lawsuits related to climate change have surged in recent years, although many have been thrown out, some are focussed on regulatory issues and the key question of liability remains undetermined. - In 2010, 132 climate-related cases were filed in US courts, almost triple the tally of 48 for 2009. In 2003, just a single case was filed. - Litigation outside the US is at a far lower level, but slowly growing. There have been at least 67 cases in the past decade, 32 of which have been filed over the past three years. In 11 cases, appeals have been filed or the outcome is unknown. Jurisdictions comprise Australia, Britain, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, New Zealand, Nigeria and the European Union. - A quarter of US lawsuits filed since 2001 have been by green groups against coal-fired power plants. Many other suits, filed by activists but also by industrialists, are requesting adjudication on regulation of carbon dioxide emissions by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). - In Europe, climate cases have focussed especially on corporate appeals against Europe's emissions trading system. A big case was France, where a law proposing a carbon tax was annulled. - Other areas of litigation include access to corporate data on emissions, the impact on endangered species and compensation for climate-related damage. Unexplored areas include state-to-state litigation, the legal status of "climate refugees" and whether island states that become unhabitable because of rising seas should retain their seat at the UN or their rights to the sea bed. - Compensation claims could theoretically lead to bills in the hundreds of billions of dollars, for those who extract fossil fuels, sell them and burn them. In the courts, these cases have run into uncertainty about judicial competence and legal responsibility. Two major cases have reached the US Supreme Court. SOURCES: - Columbia Law School litigation case index, accessed Jan 19 (http://www.law.columbia.edu/null/download?&exclusive=filemgr.download&file_id=163021) - Deutsche Bank report on US climate change litigation, published Nov 2010, (http://www.dbcca.com/dbcca/EN/_media/US_CC_Litigation.pdf), update provided by lead author - British NGO website, http://www.climatelaw.org/cases.
earlier related report The credits were stolen this week from registries across the European Union, prompting the European Commission to suspend trading, news Web site EurActiv reports. Each carbon credit, which can offset 1 ton of emitted carbon dioxide, is worth $19. Allowances were reportedly stolen in the Czech Republic, Greece, Estonia, Poland and Austria and sold on spot markets. "We haven't had a figure like 2 million allowances being stolen before," Maria Kokkonen, spokeswoman for EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, told EurActiv. "It is the biggest." The ETS is the world's largest carbon market. It generated sales of around $122 billion in 2010, with most allowances traded in future markets. Brussels urged member states to improve security of trading platforms after a series of frauds last year. Citing a lack of money, several governments didn't implement changes. "We have continuously urged member states to enhance their security measures," Kokkonen told EurActiv. "It is in their interests to protect their companies. We have 14 member states whose registries are not upgraded when it comes to security measures." Markets are expected to remain closed until security is improved. "The sooner they increase the security measures, the sooner we can reopen the systems," Kokkonen added. By putting a price on carbon dioxide, the ETS is to reduce companies' emissions and protect the environment from global warming. The EU has set itself targets of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 compared with 1990 levels. Firms received emission permits for free under the first phase of the scheme from 2005 to 2007. The EU wants energy companies buy all their permits from 2013 onward. Firms are required to hold a number of allowances equivalent to their emissions. The total number of permits in the market cannot exceed a previously set total emissions cap, limiting total emissions to that level. Stig Schjolset, a senior market analyst at Point Carbon, said the suspension of trade has damaged the ETS. "It is definitely very bad for market confidence," he told EurActiv. "It is also very bad for the reputation of the carbon market because it adds to other similar incidents we've had over the last couple of years."
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