Center for International Environmental Law

2 Sept

A new @unep.org report warns of massive risk from exceeding 1.5°C global warming. Yet it fails to put a fast, fair, funded fossil fuel phase-out at the center of how governments fulfill their legal obligations. Here’s why that’s a problem. 🧵

This week, the UN Intergovernmental Working Group on Older Persons #IGWG meets to discuss elements for a new legally binding instrument on the human rights of older persons 🧓. We are calling for the right to #HealthyEnvironmentForAll to be explicitly recognized in this landmark instrument. A 🧵

We call for the future instrument to: 🟣 Recognize the intersecting impacts of the triple planetary crisis on older persons’ #HumanRights 🟣 Include the right to a healthy environment among the rights it protects 🟣 Guarantee older persons’ access to information, justice & meaningful participation.

ciel.orgThe Right to a Clean, Healthy, and Sustainable Environment in the Legally Binding Instrument on the Human Rights of Older Persons - Center for International Environmental LawDiscover why the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment must be included in the legally binding instrument on the human rights of older persons.

📖 Read more in our new briefing 👉 www.ciel.org/reports/rthe...

#ClimateChange, biodiversity loss & pollution threaten older persons’ health, safety, access to food & water & well-being. Older persons must be recognized as people disproportionately affected by environmental harm & as rights-holders whose participation is essential to effective policymaking.

Can a technological breakthrough turn into an ecological liability? 🧪🌾 Chemical fertilizers were created to solve hunger. Instead, their use has spiraled out of control. Meet Fertilizer Frankenstein — the second monster in our #NitrogenNightmare series. 🧟‍♂️ Thread 🧵👇 1/4

The impacts of the Fertilizer Frankenstein: 🏭 Fossil fuel dependence: Chains our food to coal & gas. 🌡️ Climate & nature: Drives pollution, biodiversity loss & climate change. 🩺 Human health: Contaminates drinking water & causes air pollution. 3/4

bit.lyDire Strait: Hormuz, Fertilizers, and Food | TableDebates

We must break free from chemical dependency and move toward resilient, ecological farming that works with nature, not against it. 🎧 Want to dig deeper? Listen to our expert unpack the risks of depending on fossil-fueled fertilizers: bit.ly/4kgWH7c 4/4

How did this happen? While chemical fertilizers boosted crop yields, their unchecked use turned into an unsustainable crisis. This fossil-fueled monster turned on its creators, causing real-world harm to our climate, ecosystems, and human health. 👇 2/4

📣 The Fund for Responding to Loss & Damage #FRLD agreed to set aside $20 million for Nepal. This is a necessary sign of solidarity, but a drop in the ocean compared to the billions needed to respond to the devastating floods that have hit the country: www.fillthefund.org/post/frld-ne... A🧵

As governments gather in Antalya for #COP31, they must send an unequivocal signal: we are deep into the era of climate disasters, and the response must move beyond messages of solidarity to delivering justice and reparations for those least responsible and hardest hit.

fillthefund.orgFRLD Responds to Nepal Floods: $20M Step vs $4.71B Need | Loss and DamageThe Loss and Damage Fund set aside $20M for Nepal's flood response. While a historic emergency step, it falls far short of Nepal's $4.71B recovery needs.

✊ Those least responsible for this crisis cannot continue to pay its highest price. It's time to #MakePollutersPay ✊ Read more in @fillthefund.bsky.social press release👇 www.fillthefund.org/post/frld-ne...

What’s clear is that a Fund #FRLD that is desperately under-resourced will remain toothless in the face of escalating climate disasters. 👉 Frontline communities need finance at scale and reparations for the harm they have suffered.

rfi.frUN climate disaster fund moves to provide $20 mn aid for NepalThe United Nations' climate loss and damage fund moved Thursday to provide $20 million in aid sought by flood-stricken Nepal, the first time it has set aside money for any country, in a key test of th...

💸 ❌ This is not charity; it is a matter of legal obligation. As the International Court of Justice made clear, States most responsible for the crisis have the duty to deliver meaningful remedies and reparations for climate harm. www.rfi.fr/en/internati...

Nepal’s government estimates the loss and damage from the floods at a minimum of $2.69 billion. These estimates only capture the economic toll, not the lives lost, livelihoods destroyed, cultural heritage erased or the lasting aftermath of displacement & debt for the communities.

Our food system is trapped in a #NitrogenNightmare 🏭 ⚠️ We’ve long been told chemical nitrogen fertilizers feed the world. The truth? A growing environmental & health crisis driven by fossil fuels and corporate power. Thread 🧵👇 1/5

The impacts: 📈 Squeezes farmers: Skyrocketing fertilizer costs leave producers bearing the financial risk. 🖊️ Shapes policy: Lobbying sways regulators to protect business as usual. ❌ Locks us in: Corporate power enforces chemical fertilizer dependency over more sustainable alternatives. 4/5

bit.lyChemical Fertilizers: Feeding Corporate Profits, Not the World - Center for International Environmental LawLearn how chemical fertilizer companies boost corporate profits while driving climate harms, health risks, and food price inflation globally.

Our food system shouldn't depend on chemical fertilizers and the companies that produce them. By dismantling corporate control, we can transition toward resilient, fossil-free food systems. 🧑‍🌾 🔗 Read our full analysis on the fertilizer industry: bit.ly/4hXaUVA

To break down these systemic issues, we’re exposing the monsters haunting industrial agriculture. First up: The Corporate Kraken 🐙 Powerful tentacles trap our food system, keeping us locked into chemical fertilizer dependence. 2/5

How did this happen? A handful of fertilizer corporations dominate global nitrogen production, using their market power & political influence to keep us locked into chemical-dependent industrial agriculture. 🏭 This means the fertilizer industry has a huge influence over how we feed ourselves. 3/5

⚖️ BREAKING: 🇧🇷 Brazil is taking major oil producer Shell to court over its contribution to climate change and the devastating impacts on frontline communities. A 🧵

ciel.orgStorms Pass, the Law Remains: Pathways to Climate Reparations - Center for International Environmental LawStorms pass. The damage stays. And so does legal responsibility. Courts are making clear: climate reparations are legal duties, not charity. 2026 presents key opportunities.

This case is about more than 1 company or 1 disaster. It raises fundamental questions about who bears the costs of the climate crisis and whether major emitters should contribute to cover the losses experienced by frontline communities. www.ciel.org/storms-pass-...

From 🇧🇷 Brazil to 🇵🇭the Philippines, 🇮🇳Indonesia & 🇵🇰Pakistan, frontline communities are pursuing legal action against major emitters in different jurisdictions, seeking to connect historical emissions with specific climate-related losses. 💥✊ It’s time to #MakePollutersPay!✊💥

⚖️ BREAKING: 🇧🇷 Brazil is taking major oil producer Shell to court over its contribution to climate change and the devastating impacts on frontline communities. A 🧵

climatecasechart.comMinistério Público Federal and Instituto Preservar v. Shell Brasil Petróleo Ltda. - The Climate Litigation DatabaseBrazil, Rio Grande do Sul | Litigation | On October 9, 2026, Brazil’s Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office and Instituto Preservar filed a public civil action against Shell Brasil seeking environmental ...

#ClimateJustice: This is the 1st well-documented case of this magnitude seeking #ClimateReparations from a Global North-based transnational #CarbonMajor in a jurisdiction in the Global South. The case 👇 www.climatecasechart.com/document/min...

📢 The case highlights and is informed by three developments shaping the evolving climate litigation landscape: 1️⃣ #ICJClimateAO 2️⃣ Science is strengthening the evidence base. 3️⃣ Global South communities are demanding accountability.

⚖️ BREAKING: 🇧🇷 Brazil is taking major oil producer Shell to court over its contribution to climate change and the devastating impacts on frontline communities. A 🧵

france24.comBrazil prosecutors sue Shell for $108 mn over deadly 2024 floodsBrazilian prosecutors have filed an unprecedented lawsuit against oil giant Shell's subsidiary in the country, demanding $108 million in compensation over deadly 2024 floods.

❓What is the case about? In October 2026, Brazilian federal prosecutors and Instituto Preservar filed a climate lawsuit against Shell’s Brazilian subsidiary, seeking compensation for damage associated with the devastating 2024 floods in Rio Grande do Sul. www.france24.com/en/live-news...

The case connects three key elements: 🏭 Historical corporate emissions 🌡️ Climate attribution science 💰 The principle that those contributing to environmental harm should bear its costs: #MakePollutersPay.

Corporate harm crosses borders; accountability must too: Last week [Oct 12-16], States met for the 12th session of the UN Working Group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights to negotiate a new treaty. A 🧵👇

We also called on States to: 🔹Ensure the treaty's scope adequately encompasses business activities & human rights harms 🔹 Reiterate the primacy of human rights obligations in the context of investment & trade agreements 🔹 Address conflicts of interest.

ciel.orgGrounding the New Legally Binding Instrument on Transnational Corporations on the Right to a Healthy Environment - Center for International Environmental LawRead how including the right to a healthy environment in the new legally binding instrument on transnational corporations is essential to ensure the effective protection of people’s rights and the pla...

📖 Explore CIEL’s work on the UN Binding Treaty: • A New Instrument on Transnational Corporations and Human Rights: www.ciel.org/new-instrume... • No Profit Without Accountability for People and the Planet: www.ciel.org/reports/no-p...

Business activities can contribute to environmental destruction, human rights violations & harm to communities. This treaty is a key opportunity to: 🛢️Address corporate impunity across global supply chains ⚖️ Strengthen access to justice 🛡️ Protect people & the environment.

Importantly, people and communities impacted by corporate harm must be able to seek justice & effective remedies and reparations, regardless of where a company operates or is based. We called on States to: 🔹Include the right to a #HealthyEnvironmentForAll in the new instrument

The World Bank says it wants a world free of poverty on a livable planet. Yet its own arbitration center, ICSID, hears an estimated 60% of ISDS cases. These claims can drain public budgets and deter climate action. Today in Washington D.C., we called on the World Bank to stop backing ISDS. 🧵 1/3

ISDS lets foreign companies bypass national courts and sue governments over public-interest policies, such as environmental, health, and clean-energy rules. Most cases are brought by companies from wealthy countries against developing countries. 🧵 2/3

The costs are huge. An ICSID tribunal ordered Pakistan to pay $5.9 billion over a denied mining permit: more than twice its annual health budget. ISDS puts money for health, education, and development at risk. Learn more about how to #EndISDS: isdsfree.org 🧵 3/3

Did you know your government could be sued for curbing fossil fuels? Foreign companies use a little-known mechanism called ISDS to claim hundreds of millions of dollars over climate action. Swipe through the slides, and sign the petition to end ISDS: bit.ly/4B1IrFH 🧵 1/3

linkedin.comHow Investment State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) threatens climate actionGovernments cannot meet their climate and human rights obligations if investors can sue them over public-interest regulation. By Melissa Blue Sky and Francesca Mingrone, Senior Attorneys at the Center...

Every ISDS claim drains public money. Fossil fuel companies have been awarded over $80 billion through ISDS. And the fear of being sued can stop climate policies even before they start. Dig deeper into what's at stake, and what governments can do: bit.ly/4i5JiMV 🧵 2/3

isdsfree.orgISDS Days of Action – 15-17 October 2026

✊ The good news: governments created this system, so they can end it. From 15–17 October, people around the world are pushing States to stop ISDS. Join us: isdsfree.org 🧵 3/3

afalab.orgAn African Call for Climate Reparations: Accountability, Equity, and Repair for People and Planet | African Futures LabOn 30 September and 1 October 2026, the African Symposium on Climate Reparations held in Mombasa, Kenya, brought together over 110 community …

We endorse the African Call for Climate Reparations, calling for: 1 #MakePollutersPay 2 Those most affected must shape the solutions 3 Climate reparations must be grounded in accountability, justice & repair, not charity. READ more & sign 👇 www.afalab.org/the-latest/n...

bit.lySounding the Alarm | Ein Warnruf | Tirer la Sonnette d’Alarme — Inside TrackEinen Link zum Memo in deutscher Sprache finden Sie unterhalb des Textes. Vous trouverez ci-dessous le lien vers la note en français. A link to the English language memo can be found below th...

🚨 Insurance insiders are speaking out about what their industry says behind closed doors on the climate crisis: bit.ly/4ypNOMj Their memo echoes what CIEL and partners have long warned: insurers are passing climate costs onto the public as homes and key businesses lose coverage. 1/4 🧵

🙅 Insurers have an exit plan: reprice, restrict, then withdraw coverage, getting out before the costs land on them. The memo says this has already begun and will now accelerate. When insurers walk away, communities and governments are left holding the bill. 3/4

🏚️ Insiders warn that if many homes lose insurance, people can’t get mortgages. That could set off a financial crash like the one in 2008. Big Oil and its financial enablers can’t keep profiting from climate chaos while communities pay. 🔄 Share and tell your government: make polluters pay! 4/4

📈 The industry’s own models show climate damages rising. Yet insiders say too little is done to warn governments and the public. Worse: in some firms, modelers are told to give projections a “haircut” and “manage down the numbers” to keep deals flowing. 2/4