Climate Litigation Cases in Latin America and the Caribbean

A group of children and young people residing in Xochimilco, Mexico City, filed an injunction against the construction of the Periférico-Cuemanco vehicular bridge, which would be located in the Xochimilco borough of Mexico City. The project was authorized by the Mexico City Ministry of Public Works and Services and awarded to the company IDINSA SA de CV.

Residents of southern Mexico City, including children and people aged 60 and over, filed a lawsuit against the Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC) and the Mexican Air Navigation Services (SENEAM) for the redesign of the airspace of the Valley of Mexico.

The plaintiffs argue in their initial complaint that the airspace redesign violates the following rights:

Greenpeace Mexico filed an injunction against several Mexican authorities for the preparation and approval of the revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), updated in 2020, arguing that they violate the right to a healthy environment and the principle of progressivity by (i) relaxing the unconditional target of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 22% in relation to the target established in 2015, (ii) increasing the business as usual (BAU) baseline, and (iii) enabling a greater emission of tons of carbon di

In 2019, Greenpeace Mexico filed an injunction against the Program for Addressing Atmospheric Environmental Contingencies in the Metropolitan Area of the Valley of Toluca and the Metropolitan Area of Santiago Tianguistenco (hereinafter the Program), issued by the Ministry of the Environment of the Government of the State of Mexico, arguing that it violates the human right to a healthy environment by failing to comply with the Official Mexican Standards NOM-020-SSA1-2014 “Environmental Health.

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.

Two Mexican citizens filed a lawsuit seeking amparo (a constitutional remedy) against the removal, filling, and fragmentation of the mangrove forest located in Laguna del Carpintero in Tamaulipas. This action stemmed from the illegal construction—which lacked the required environmental impact authorization—of the Laguna del Carpintero Ecological Theme Park.

In December 2016, four taxes were incorporated into the State of Zacatecas's Finance Law as part of the chapter called "Ecological Taxes": (i) environmental remediation in the extraction of materials; (ii) emission of gases into the atmosphere; (iii) emission of pollutants into the soil, subsoil and water; and (iv) deposit or storage of waste.

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).

In 2021, a group of 214 young people filed an injunction against the reform to the Electricity Industry Law, published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on March 9, 2021. The main argument of the injunction is that the Mexican State is constitutionally obligated to carry out actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

The Mexican Center for Environmental Law (CEMDA) and the Inter-American Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA) filed an amparo lawsuit against the Agreement that modifies article 31 of the General Administrative Provisions that establish the guidelines for the prevention and comprehensive control of methane emissions from the hydrocarbon sector (hereinafter the amending Agreement), published by the National Agency for Industrial Safety and Environmental Protection of the Hydrocarbon Sector (ASEA).