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Climate Change Litigation: Potential Reasons Canada Lags Behind The United States, Morgan Mcdonald

Morgan McDonald

Despite the overwhelming evidence that climate change threatens our environmental security, governments have neglected to enact comprehensive legislation regulating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Since the political realm has failed to act, climate litigants have turned to the judicial branch to force GHG reform. Although the US and Canada support similar GHG emitting corporations and have similar legal systems, their experience in climate litigation is strikingly different. While US courts have seen approximately five hundred climate change actions, Canada has seen only two cases. The remarkable absence of climate litigation in Canada is concerning because these actions play an essential role …