Taking climate laggards to court: accelerator or blocker of climate action?

Welcome to Money for Change, the weekly podcast made by Triodos Bank! In this podcast, we will share insights and challenges related to our core question: how can we accelerate the change to a more balanced and just world?

Each episode, we will dive into specific topic that is relevant for answering this question. It can be about creating affordable housing, making the care sector more inclusive or financing nature conservation. Hans Stegeman, Triodos Bank’s Chief Economist, is a recurring guest in the show.

A topic that has gained much attention in recent years - and in the last few weeks due to a case in the Netherlands – is the fact that court cases against governments and corporates to enforce climate action are on the rise. By now, hundreds of court cases, often filed by NGO’s and groups of citizens, are being processed by national and international courts in different stages. Some cases are won, some are lost. Three weeks ago, Greenpeace won a court case that is meant to enforce the Dutch government to abide by its own law regarding nature protection. The key question here is whether these court cases help to accelerate climate action, or that they may also be an increasing source of climate hesitance, forming even an obstacle to the climate transition. In this episode we’ll discuss this topic with Eefje de Kroon, a legal expert and lead campaigner at Greenpeace, involved in several court cases.

At the end of the episode, Hans will share his thoughts on the recent trend of large companies pulling back from their sustainability commitments, a move that could signal the end of what we call ‘green capitalism’

If you have any comments or questions about this episode, feel free to contact us using the form on our webpage: https://www.triodos.com/en/podcasts/money-for-change

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Host: Sanne van Keulen

Fixed guest: Hans Stegeman

Guest: Eefje de Kroon