Damages

Dec 02 2024 68 ep. 33 mins 464
Damages Podcast artwork

Law & Order meets the climate crisis as we dig into the stories behind the hundreds of climate cases around the globe.

  Society & Culture  Science  True Crime
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The Massive Climate Case that Shell Both Won and Lost, and What It Means for the Future of Global Climate Litigation

Dec 02 2024 20 mins  
In November, a Dutch court ruled in Shell's favor on an appeal in a big international climate case. It got loads of headlines around the world, but it wasn't quite the win for Shell that a lot of media coverage has made it out to be. Although it walked back some things, the court reaffirmed a key component of the original ruling: that Shell is legally required to reduce its global

New Research Shows the Clean Air Act Always Intended to Regulate Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Aug 15 2024 31 mins  
In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled in Massachusetts vs. EPA that when the U.S. Congress passed the Clean Air Act in 1970, climate science was “in its infancy,” implying that government officials could never have intended for the legislation to cover the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. In 2022, SCOTUS doubled down on that idea, ruling in West Virginia v EPA that since the

The Real Free Speech Threat: In El Salvador a Cold Case Murder Has Become a Weapon for Silencing Environmental Activists

Jul 17 2024 41 mins  
In 2017, El Salvador became the first country in the world to pass an outright ban on mining. It was an effort to protect the country's water, and its people. Now, self-proclaimed "coolest dictator in the world" Nayib Bukele wants to bring mining back to boost the economy, which took a major hit thanks to his embrace of Bitcoin as the national currency in 2021. The activists who he

Could You Really Charge Oil Companies with Murder? Plus: Supreme Court Climate Update

Jul 09 2024 36 mins  
Public Citizen has been working with various prosecutors to explore the idea of using criminal law to hold oil companies accountable for climate change. In the wake of recent Supreme Court rulings, it seems smarter than ever to explore the remedies offered by criminal law, but is it really viable? The group's senior climate policy counsel, Aaron Regunburg, joins us to discuss. Lear

The Coordinated Attack on Shareholder Activism

Jun 25 2024 52 mins  
The backlash against ESG is continuing, with a string of lawsuits aimed at shutting down shareholder activism. We don't often talk about shareholder activism in the vein of protecting protest, but it's absolutely part of the story. Andrew Behar, CEO of shareholder advocacy group As You Sow, joins us to explain what's going on, and why anyone who cares about basic rights needs to be

The New Carbon Majors Report + Swiss Elders Win Landmark Climate Case

Apr 12 2024 42 mins  
Lots of news lately on stories we've been following, so in today's episode: an update! The landmark Carbon Majors report has been updated with some surprising new data, and the European Court of Human Rights has sent down an historic ruling that will shape how EU legislators look at energy and climate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Real Free Speech Threat: In Nigeria's Ogoniland, Protestors Still Fighting to Hold Oil Accompanies Accountable

Mar 22 2024 43 mins  
Shell announced in late 2023 that it would be shutting down all of its onshore activities in Nigeria and concentrating its efforts offshore. It leaves behind poisoned water, multiple political and economic crises, and a country that is measurably worse off today than when its oil industry began. Meanwhile the government continues to target environmental activists. Learn more about

The Real Free Speech Threat: Department of Homeland Security, the Manufactured "EcoTerrorist" Panic, and Cop City

Jan 31 2024 39 mins  
The U.S. government's definition of what constitutes an "ecoterrorist" has long driven backlash against environmental activists and in recent years that definition has only broadened. Investigative reporter and Drilled senior editor Alleen Brown dug into this recently and found that the Department of Homeland Security had been warning officials in Atlanta about the threat posed by

The Real Free Speech Threat: Meet the UN's First Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders

Jan 31 2024 73 mins  
In June 2022, Michel Forst became the first UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders. In that role he has spent the past year visiting various countries and speaking out about the increasingly onerous laws and aggressive tactics being used against climate protestors. Today he released a statement on the UK, saying he is "extremely worried" about "the increasingly severe cra

The Real Free Speech Threat: How UK Courts Became the New Climate Protest Battleground

Jan 27 2024 33 mins  
About a decade after UK courts made history with the first "climate necessity" ruling in history, the UK government has passed new laws that not only restrict what protesters can do, but also how protesters are allowed to defend themselves in court. Some judges don't apply the new laws so strictly, but others have held people in contempt for just trying to explain themselves. In so