Climate Litigation Cases in Latin America and the Caribbean

A resident of Mexico City filed an injunction against the modification to NOM-016-CRE-2016, the standard for petroleum product quality specifications, issued by the Energy Regulatory Commission. The modification increased the percentage of ethanol in gasoline from 5.8% to 10% outside the Mexico City Metropolitan Area, the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area, and the Monterrey Metropolitan Area.

The CNDH received a complaint regarding the lack of updating of the maximum limits of pollutants contained in the official Mexican standards (NOM) on environmental health, as well as the inadequate distribution in the national territory of good quality gasoline and diesel (which ensures proper functioning of motor vehicles and low emissions to the atmosphere).

The case originated with a precautionary action filed by five civil society organizations, later converted into a public civil action (ACP), to challenge the environmental licensing process for the Nova Seival thermoelectric power plant (UTE), the largest coal-fired thermoelectric project in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) filed a civil lawsuit against the State of São Paulo, CETESB, and IBAMA, seeking the suspension and annulment of all licenses and authorizations issued by the state environmental agency for the controlled burning of sugarcane straw in the municipalities of the Campinas Judicial Subsection.

A group of parents and children, members of the "Families for Climate" Movement, filed an "advance production of evidence action" against the government of São Paulo, to access the documents that motivate and support the "IncentivAuto" program of the government of São Paulo, sanctioned by Governor João Doria (PSBD), in order to access information for a possible litigation on the relevance of this tax incentive in the face of Brazil's obligations to reduce its carbon emissions.

The Public Prosecutor's Office of the State of São Paulo filed a civil lawsuit against sugarcane producers to prohibit the burning technique used in sugarcane harvesting. The lawsuit seeks to order the defendants to pay damages.

In 2010, the Public Prosecutor's Office of the State of São Paulo (MPSP) filed a Public Civil Action against KLM – a Dutch airline – alleging environmental damage resulting from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated by its aircraft landing and takeoff operations at São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport. The MPSP's primary request was that the company be ordered to reforest an area sufficient to fully absorb its emissions, or, alternatively, to pay compensation for the environmental damage caused.

The Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) filed an Action for Noncompliance with Fundamental Precept (ADPF) with a request for precautionary measures, against the Federal Union and the State of São Paulo, due to omissions and commissions that violate the constitutional duty to protect the Cerrado and Mata Atlântica biomes, seriously affected by the forest fires that occurred in 2024.

This is an action brought by the Green Party (PV) against two Presidential Decrees (n. 10.341/2020 and n. 10.539/2020) and an Ordinance of the Ministry of Defense (n. 1.804/2020) that authorized the action of the Armed Forces in the fight against environmental crimes and outbreaks of fire “in the border strip, in indigenous lands, in federal environmental conservation units and in other federal areas of the states of the Legal Amazon.”

In 2012, the Porta Hermanos SA factory expanded its facilities to begin producing ethanol derived from the milling and fermentation of genetically modified corn (bioethanol). This production shift encroached upon various communal spaces in the San Antonio and Inaudi neighborhoods where it is located, and profoundly altered the community's social dynamics.