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This technical noteC note by Climate Policy Initiative/PUC-Rio analyzes a February 11, 2026, decision by the Tribunal Regional Federal da 4ª Região (TRF-4) regarding a legal conflict between the Atlantic Forest Law (LMA) and the Forest Code. The TRF-4 extinguished a public civil action without judging the merits, effectively maintaining the application of the Forest Code's 'consolidated areas' regime in Paraná and avoiding the immediate imposition of the more restrictive 1990 temporal milestone for environmental regularization.

This briefing by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and partners examines the application of the Polluter-Pays Principle (PPP) to the PFAS pollution crisis. It argues that current implementation in the EU is inconsistent and that a comprehensive strategy is needed to shift the staggering financial burden of remediation and health costs from the public to the producers and users of PFAS.

This briefing, prepared for the 11th session of the open-ended intergovernmental working group (OEIGWG), advocates for the explicit inclusion of the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment (RtHE) within a proposed international legally binding instrument (LBI) to regulate transnational corporations and business enterprises.

An opinion piece by Pablo Fajardo of the Union of Affected People by Texaco (now Chevron) and Friends of the Earth Ecuador, arguing that climate justice is impossible without ending corporate impunity, specifically citing Chevron's environmental devastation in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

This briefing details a judgment by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) delivered on 11 April 2025, which affirmed that poor air quality in South Africa's Highveld Priority Area breaches constitutional rights. The court ruled that the Minister of Environmental Affairs has a legal duty to prescribe regulations under section 20 of the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act 39 of 2004 (NEM:AQA) to implement and enforce the Highveld Priority Area Air Quality Management Plan, finding that the Minister had unreasonably delayed in doing so.

This document is a comprehensive legislative directory compiled by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI/PUC-Rio) that lists the federal and state laws, decrees, and normative instructions governing the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) and the Environmental Regularization Program (PRA) across various Brazilian states as of 2025.

This legal memorandum analyzes the potential for company directors in South Africa to be held personally liable for failing to address, disclose, and prepare for climate-related financial risks. It examines the intersection of the Companies Act 71 of 2008, common law, the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA), and the recently enacted Climate Change Act 22 of 2024, arguing that climate risk is a material financial risk that falls under existing directors' duties of care, skill, and fiduciary loyalty.

This document is a formal appeal submitted by groundWork and the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) to the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment. The appeal seeks to set aside an Amended Environmental Authorisation (Amended EA) granted on 2 August 2024 to Phinda Power Projects (Pty) Ltd for a 320MW Emergency Risk Mitigation Power Plant in Alton, Richards Bay. The Appellants argue that the decision was unlawful, procedurally unfair, and failed to adequately assess the environmental and climate impacts of switching the plant's fuel source and technology.

A joint statement by six environmental and health organizations providing recommendations to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and Health Canada on the implementation framework for the right to a healthy environment (R2HE) under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA).

This document contains the heads of argument submitted by the First and Second Respondents (Groundwork Trust and Vukani Environmental Justice Alliance Movement in Action) to the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa. The respondents argue that the Minister of Environmental Affairs has a legal duty under section 20 of the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act and section 7(2) of the Constitution to promulgate regulations to implement and enforce the Highveld Plan. They seek to uphold a High Court judgment that declared the air quality in the Highveld Priority Area a breach of constitutional rights and ordered the Minister to produce enforcement regulations within 12 months.

This document is an annex listing the federal and state legislation consulted for a 2024 report titled "ONDE ESTAMOS NA IMPLEMENTAÇÃO DO CÓDIGO FLORESTAL?" (Where are we in the implementation of the Forest Code?). It provides a comprehensive bibliography of laws, decrees, normative instructions, and resolutions related to the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) and the Environmental Regularization Program (PRA) across various Brazilian states.

This document is a PAIA Manual published in October 2023 by the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), a non-profit law clinic based in Cape Town. The manual outlines the procedures and categories of information available to the public in accordance with the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (PAIA) and the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA), ensuring transparency and the exercise of environmental rights.

This report by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) provides a comprehensive compilation of existing definitions from Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), international organizations, and regional norms to support the negotiation of a legally binding international instrument to end plastic pollution.

This briefing by the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment outlines the key provisions of Bill S-5, which modernizes the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA). The bill introduces the right to a healthy environment into federal law and strengthens the framework for assessing and managing toxic substances, while the authors identify several remaining gaps in environmental protection and enforcement.

A blog post authored by representatives from the Center for International Environmental Law, Greenpeace International, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International urging Council of Europe Member States to recognize the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment during the May 16-17, 2023, Summit in Reykjavik, Iceland.

This briefing by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI/PUC-Rio) analyzes Bill PL nº 36/2021, which proposes substantial changes to the Brazilian Forest Code. The authors argue that the bill effectively dismantles the current legal framework by extending amnesty for illegal deforestation, suspending environmental fines and embargos, and weakening the validation process of the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR).

This case study describes a legal challenge brought by NGOs against the company Total, alleging that the company's vigilance plan for the Tilenga oil project in Uganda and Tanzania violated France's 2017 Duty of Vigilance Law by failing to adequately assess human rights and environmental impacts.

A joint statement and news release from several environmental and health organizations, including the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, urging the Canadian Senate and House of Commons to prioritize, strengthen, and pass Bill S-5 to modernize the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA).

The Centre for Environmental Rights, acting on behalf of groundWork and Earthlife Africa, submitted an appeal to the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment on 9 February 2022. The appeal seeks to set aside decisions made by the National Air Quality Officer on 30 October 2021 regarding Eskom's applications for alternative limits and the postponement and suspension of compliance timeframes under the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act 39 of 2004 Minimum Emission Standards.

This legal report by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) analyzes the decision of an arbitral tribunal to deny an amicus curiae submission by CIEL and the Sociedad Cooperativa de Producción Pesquera Puerto Chale in the case of Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. v. United Mexican States. The report argues that the denial undermines the legitimacy of investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) by ignoring public interests, environmental risks, and human rights impacts associated with the Don Diego deep-sea mining project.