Climate Litigation Cases in Latin America and the Caribbean

The organization Greenpeace Mexico filed a lawsuit against PROSENER 2020-2024, section XXII of article 3 of the Electricity Industry Law (LIE) and the diversion of resources allocated for the adaptation and mitigation of the effects of climate change, provided for in Annex 16 of the Federal Expenditure Budget for the fiscal year 2020.

Six civil associations, along with the #YouthForOurFuture collective, made up of more than 20 youth groups, filed an injunction against the reform to the Electricity Industry Law, published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on March 9, 2021. The plaintiff organizations include Nuestros Derechos al Futuro y Medio Ambiente Sano, AC; Alianza Juvenil por la Sostenibilidad, AC; Naj Hub, AC; Consejo Interuniversitario Nacional de Estudiantes de Derecho, AC; and Ágora Ciudadanos Cambiando México, AC

A group of young people, accompanied by the Northwest Environmental Defense organization, filed a lawsuit against the Mexican government to demand that it comply with the General Law on Climate Change and issue the regulations and public policies derived from it.

The Mexican Center for Environmental Law (CEMDA) filed an indirect amparo lawsuit against several amendments approved by the Federal Congress to the General Law on Climate Change (LGCC). Specifically, the amendments concerned: 1) the elimination of the Climate Change Fund (FCC); 2) the dissolution of the assets held in the FCC through a trust; and 3) the transfer of resource allocation for climate change mitigation and adaptation actions through the federal budget, to the detriment of the FCC.

The Mexican Center for Environmental Law (CEMDA) filed an amparo lawsuit against Resolution RES/893/2020, dated May 28, 2020, and the Notice published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on June 10, 2020, issued by the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), through which the rates that electricity generators from renewable sources must pay for the transmission service of the energy transmitted to users (Stamp Duty Rates) were disproportionately increased (from 500% to 800%).

On July 29, 2022, nine residents of St. Ann filed a constitutional lawsuit with the Supreme Court of Jamaica against the Government for granting a bauxite mining license to Noranda Jamaica Bauxite Partners, Noranda Jamaica Partners II and New Day Aluminum Ltd.

Among the main arguments, they pointed out that the companies' activities negatively affected their lives, health, livelihoods, and the environment.

The case concerns a lawsuit against the Guyanese government's approval of an ExxonMobil oil megaproject off the coast of Guyana, which has potential climate impacts. The plaintiffs argued that this approval violates the right to a healthy environment, protected by the Guyanese Constitution, as well as the rights of future generations to sustainable development. It is the first climate litigation case in the Caribbean.

In 2004, the Ministry of Energy and Mines of Guatemala granted a mining exploration license to the company EXMIBAL, which was later transferred to the Guatemalan Nickel Company SA

The mining license was granted in 2006 without adequate consultation with the community. This, along with the presentation of the Environmental Impact Study only in Spanish and not in the Q'eqchi' Mayan language, led to a series of legal and social conflicts.

Two Guatemalan companies, Oxec SA and Oxec II SA, oversaw a pair of hydroelectric dam projects planned for the Cahabón River. Both companies are owned by Energy Resources Capital Corporation, registered in Panama. Local Indigenous communities reported that they were not formally consulted and expressed concern that the dams would damage their environment and violate their rights.

In May 2022, Ecuadorian environmental defenders, led by lawyer Yaku Pérez, and communities in the Quimsacocha moorland area promoted a protective action against the Canadian mining company Dundee Precious Metals, requesting a prior, free and informed consultation with the communities of the area regarding the Loma Larga mining project, due to prospecting, exploration and exploitation activities of metallic mining in water sources, moorlands, wetlands, forests and in all the recharge and water regulation zones of the Quimsacocha hydrological system.