Climate Litigation Cases in Latin America and the Caribbean

On February 12, 2018, Resolution No. 72 of the Superintendency of the Environment (SMA), dated January 17, 2018, was submitted for review. This resolution terminated the administrative sanctioning proceedings initiated against Compañía Minera Nevada SpA in relation to the Pascua Lama project. The resolution imposed more than 30 administrative sanctions on the company, five of which included the permanent closure of the Pascua Lama mining operation.

The Private Corporation for the Development of Aysén (CODESA), together with the Corporation for the Defense of Flora and Fauna (CODEFF), and Hugo Díaz Manríquez, filed a complaint for non-compliance with their public comments against the resolution that approved the Cuervo Hydroelectric Plant Project, submitted by the company Energía Austral to the Environmental Impact Assessment Service (SEIA) on August 13, 2009, through an Environmental Impact Study.

A group of unions of independent workers dedicated to artisanal fishing sued the National Electricity Company (ENDESA) for environmental damage.

The plaintiffs indicated that the Bocamina 1 and 2 units of the Bocamina Thermoelectric Complex, owned by the company in question, had been emitting chemical substances such as arsenic, chromium, zinc and mercury, among others, for years, at levels that exceed the maximums allowed by Chilean laws.

Citizens of the San José de Maipo community filed three claims of illegality, which were accumulated in a single case, against Exempt Resolution No. 29/2018, through which the Superintendency of the Environment approved the Compliance Program of the Alto Maipo Hydroelectric project, presented by the company Alto Maipo SPA., regarding the infractions contained in its Environmental Qualification Resolution (No. 256/2009) in the administrative sanctioning procedure ROL D-001-2017.

The REDE party filed a lawsuit against Presidential Decree 10.224/2020, which modified the composition of the National Environmental Fund's (FNMA) deliberative council, excluding civil society participation. Before the decree, the council was composed of 17 representatives—9 from the government and 8 from civil society—ensuring social oversight of the use of public funds allocated to socio-environmental projects throughout the country.

The Attorney General's Office, with the support of civil society organizations, filed a direct action of unconstitutionality (No. 6148) against the Federal Government for its unconstitutional omission regarding Resolution No. 491/2018 of the National Environmental Council, which establishes air quality parameters.

The organization Equística Defensa del Medio Ambiente (Equística Environmental Defense) filed a collective environmental protection action against the Municipality of Rosario, the Province of Santa Fe, the Municipality of Victoria, the Province of Entre Ríos, and the National Government, due to the illegal fires occurring on the chain of islands off the coast of the city of Rosario, which were seriously affecting the health of the inhabitants.

On May 4, 2023, a coalition of NGOs, academia, and researchers, including AIDA, CAJAR, CINEP, CENSAT, POLEN Just Transitions, the University of Magdalena, and Paola Yanguas, filed a compliance action before the Administrative Court of Cundinamarca, demanding that the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, the Ministry of Mines and Energy, and the National Environmental Licensing Authority characterize and manage the climate impacts generated by the coal sector, so that the necessary measures for their management can be adopted with

The Self-Convened Environmentalists Organization filed a lawsuit in the Federal Court of Mercedes against Araucaria Energy SA for preventative environmental damage related to the construction, installation, and/or operation of the Luján II Thermoelectric Power Plant. The lawsuit requests the immediate cessation of construction and power generation activities at the plant until a sustainable electricity generation system is designed or the plant's location is changed.

The Community Aqueduct Network of southern Santander and various peasant communities initiated legal action because the National Mining Agency (ANM) granted a license to Zurich International Trading, the company holding the coal mining project and the main company singled out by the communities, due to inconsistencies in the instruments that support the mining project.