COP27 Failed. Here Are 5 Ways We Can Still Help Save the Planet.

My latest column for The Guardian proposes a framework for how legal changes can catalyze progress

In my latest column for The Guardian, I suggest five key changes in the law that I believe could help us save the planet. All of these ideas come from some very thoughtful people in civil society who are the real change agents in the battle for climate justice. It is time to connect the dots and try to put these idea in a coherent legal framework that everybody can rally behind.

Here are the five proposed legal changes that, in my opinion, can do the most to save the planet:

1) Make ecocide an international crime. Ecocide — the deliberate or wanton destruction of the environment — should have the same moral and legal force as genocide and crimes against humanity. And it must apply to fossil fuel executives so they face potential personal criminal liability for making decisions to pollute.

2) Sign the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. If signed by a significant number of governments, this treaty will create a binding legal obligation for all nations to begin the orderly phase out of fossil fuels — something that the COP27 summit failed to accomplish.

3) Pass anti-SLAPP laws in the US and Europe. These laws will prohibit corporate harassment lawsuits (known as SLAPP lawsuits) that re used to try to silence and intimidate activists and climate warriors. Significant fines need to be imposed on companies like Chevron that engage in this abusive tactic.

4) Legal protection for the sacred Amazon Headwaters. We need to support the 30 Amazon Indigenous groups who have advanced a sophisticated plan to provide international legal protection to the sacred Amazon Headwaters, the most important ecosystem on the planet and the area with the greatest concentration of biodiversity.

5) Make “Climate Reparations” binding. We need to implement a binding legal obligation on the issue of "climate reparations" to force wealthy nations to adequately compensate under-resourced countries that bear the brunt of negative climate impacts. COP27 actually agreed to such a fund at the 11th Hour, but no funds have been committed.

Given my recent 993-day detention orchestrated by Chevron, I probably understand more than most the limitations of the law and how the judiciary can be weaponized to target activists in the climate movement. That said, we have the power as a collective movement to make the law work for the planet rather than for industry.

Read details here.