Climate change litigation: Determinations of the Supreme Court of Ireland on the National Mitigation Plan

The case of Friends of the Irish Environment CLG v. the Government of Ireland, Ireland and the Attorney General was initially instituted in 2017 in the High Court of Ireland and finally decided by the Supreme Court of Ireland in 2020 as a matter of general public importance. The Applicant in this matter alleged that Ireland’s National Mitigation Plan violated the country’s Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 46 of 2015, the Constitution of Ireland, and the European Convention on Human Rights. The Supreme Court’s decision marks a rare occasion on which the highest court of a country decided that the government has a legal obligation to reform certain environmental policies in order to prevent dangerous climate change. Within the aforementioned framework, this Article explores Ireland’s National Mitigation Plan of 2017, the country’s Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act of 2015, and the related Amendment Bill of 2020. The main objective of this Article is to examine the validity of Ireland’s National Mitigation Plan of 2017, as framed by the Supreme Court.