Belgian lawyer takes climate change battle to court

(Context, 5 May 2023) Young environmental lawyer is working to defend the planet as climate lawsuits mount around the world.

It's not all gowns, gavels and grandstanding in courtrooms for environmental lawyer Linli Pan-Van de Meulebroeke.

Most of the time, the 30-year-old Belgian buries her nose in law books or scrolls through reams of legal cases on her computer, looking for key facts to help her win her cases.

"You have to like reading," she said with a smile.

Climate change-related litigation is on the rise around the world, with the cumulative number of cases more than doubling since 2015 to about 2,000, according to the Climate Change Laws of the World database.

Litigation has become an instrument used to enforce or enhance climate commitments made by governments, with 73 "framework" cases challenging governments' overall responses to climate change, legal researchers said in a 2022 report.

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Context, 5 May 2023: Belgian lawyer takes climate change battle to court