Climate Litigation Cases in Latin America and the Caribbean

On June 12, 2023, the Quantum Foundation formally requested from the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) and the Board of Directors of the Costa Rican Petroleum Refinery (RECOPE) a certified digital copy of eight sets of historical documents related to hydrocarbon potential and exploration in Costa Rica.

On October 9, 2023, through letter CRLP-01-2023, the citizen initiative Costa Rica Free of Drilling presented to the President of the Republic and the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE), a reaction to the proposal of the Costa Rican Union of Chambers and Associations of the Private Business Sector (UCCAEP) on hydrocarbons.

In the document they made a formal request with two aspects:

On January 11, 2024, Greenpeace Netherlands and eight citizens of the island of Bonaire sued the Dutch State for violating the rights of the inhabitants of the Caribbean island of Bonaire by not adequately and promptly assuming its responsibility to curb climate change.

The case began with the filing of a Constitutional Appeal before the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of Costa Rica, alleging that the Executive Branch and the National Environmental Technical Secretariat (SETENA) attached to the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) failed to include climate impacts in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedures.

On June 29, 2026, the Honduran Institute of Environmental Law (IDAMHO) filed an appeal for protection of constitutional rights with the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice against the resolution issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (SERNA). This resolution authorized the third renewal of the environmental license for Phase 1 of hydrocarbon exploration, which includes 2D seismic surveys, gravimetry, and seabed sampling in the Honduran Caribbean.

On September 21, 2023, the Strategic Committee for Youth Participation and Influence submitted a request for data to the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE), related to the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) that summarizes the climate goals that the country assumed under the Paris Agreement.

On January 22, 2025, the indigenous community of Tintaya Marquiri, located in the province of Espinar, in the department of Cusco, filed a complaint with the Superior Prosecutor's Office of the National Coordination of Specialized Prosecutor's Offices for Environmental Crimes against the Antapaccay mining company , a subsidiary of the Swiss transnational corporation Glencore, which they accuse of being responsible for serious environmental damage in their territory.

The First Specialized Constitutional Court of Lima declared two compliance actions filed by the Institute for Legal Defense of the Environment and Sustainable Development Peru (IDLADS) to be founded, so that the Ministry of the Environment (MINAM) would implement the Tenth and Seventeenth Final Complementary Provision of the Regulation of the Framework Law on Climate Change, approved by Supreme Decree No. 013-2019-MINAM (RLMCC).

On March 31, 2025, the Fifth Court, Specialized in Constitutional Matters of Lima issued a ruling in favor of the Institute for Legal Defense of the Environment and Sustainable Development of Peru (IDLADS Peru), ordering the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation (MIDAGRI) and the National Forest and Wildlife Service (SERFOR) to comply with the obligations established in Supreme Decree No. 003-2022-MINAM, which declares a climate emergency in Peru, approved in 2022.

The legal action filed in 2020 by the Puerto Franco Native Community and the Kichwa Ethnic Council of the Amazon (CEPKA) sought to protect their right to communal property, including access to and control of their natural resources within their territory, as well as the right to prior consultation regarding administrative acts and measures.