Published on 10 September 2025 in

Webinar: Practical insights from climate change litigators: how courts are favouring plaintiffs and disfavouring defendants

On 4 September 2025, Volterra Fietta hosted a virtual seminar on “Practical insights from climate change litigators: how courts are favouring plaintiffs and disfavouring defendants”.

Recent major court decisions around the world have favoured plaintiffs over defendants in climate change cases. These decisions raise the question: could climate change litigation soon become to energy and extractive companies, what asbestos litigation was for many major building manufacturers?

In May 2025, a German appeals court found that RWE could be held liable under German law for the damages caused by climate change based on emissions dating from the 1960’s onwards. In July 2025, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found that North, Central and South American judiciaries had to permit private climate change claims under lessened evidentiary standards. And, in that same month, the International Court of Justice found that the science exists today to hold States directly liable for climate change damages based on their carbon emissions and the emissions by private entities under their jurisdiction. These and other recent developments could undermine the defence of many defendants in climate change cases.

Our panel of experienced climate change litigators discussed these caselaw developments from a hands-on perspective, considering their lived courtroom experience, in both civil and common law jurisdictions. They discussed how these developments impact litigation strategies for both plaintiffs and defendants. The discussion was conducted in a neutral, apolitical manner that is useful and informative for both potential plaintiffs and defendants.

Among other issues, the panel addressed:

• The potential for expanding the International Court of Justice’s confirmation of a legal basis for climate change damages claims to private plaintiffs and/or private defendants;
  
• Proving, and disproving, proximate causation and damages in climate change litigations;
  
• The temporal scope of climate change claims, including what historic conduct could be subject to a climate change claim; and
  
• The standard of evidence to be applied in climate change claims.

For any queries regarding the content of the seminar, please email seminars@volterrafietta.com.