Mission Statement
Climate change is a global affliction, and must be dealt with globally. The highest-level processes developed to deal with climate change, such as the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Accord, are insufficient: the world is still on a business-as-usual path to at least 4 degrees Celsius of average temperature increase. Individuals, at the lowest level, can’t make up the deficiency by installing LED lightbulbs and driving electric cars. What’s required is a concerted effort by organizations and parties in between the highest and lowest levels, national, provincial, and local governments, businesses, and civil society.
Lawyers, with their special knowledge and skills, have a unique and crucial role to play. The mission of the Cool World Institute is to help bring together environmental lawyers from around the globe to work together and share ideas about how the law, and litigation in particular, can be used to fight for a cooler world. We organize presentations and meetings on climate litigation in venues like the IPCCC Conferences of the Parties and the IUCN World Conservation Congress, and are planning to organize the first global Climate Litigation Conference in Los Angeles in early 2021.
This Climate Litigation Toolbox is another significant Cool World Institute project. It focuses on legal tools that can be used by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in multiple jurisdictions. For example, an NGO can petition the European Commission to institute an infringement proceeding against a member state that is not complying with EU directives and can initiate a dispute under certain multilateral treaties.
Cool World Institute Purposes
- To develop and expand a global network of NGO lawyers supporting one another’s work toward a cooler world;
- To develop and share legal resources and methods for working toward reducing greenhouse-gas concentrations;
- To facilitate and help organize significant new lawsuits to fight climate change;
- To provide legal resources for developing countries working on climate change.
Cool World Institute is a project of Advocates for the Environment, a non-profit California environmental law firm and advocacy organization.
Dean Wallraff, Executive Director. +1 (818) 650-0030 X101, dw@aenv.org