The UCS Science Hub for Climate Litigation

Scientists have a critical role to play in climate litigation.

As experts, we can conduct robust and timely litigation-relevant scientific research, help inform courts via amicus briefs and legal interventions, and consult on cases or appear in court as expert witnesses.

The UCS Science Hub for Climate Litigation's goal is to build greater capacity for experts like you to participate in any of these processes. We work to connect scientists and legal experts advancing climate litigation. We create legally relevant scientific research, provide legal teams with research, and introduce them to experts. We make science accessible to communities affected by climate change so they can hold bad actors accountable.

We are building a community of scientists who can meet the growing demand for scientific expertise to inform climate litigation around the world.

Learn more

• Sign up for our bimonthly newsletter.
• Watch these short videos about climate lawsuits, corporate accountability, and attribution science.
• Share information about the UCS Science Hub for Climate Litigation.
• Connect with our staff to learn more or receive template slides to share.
• Get involved.

How does science inform climate litigation?

Climate lawsuits can help communities affected by climate change hold bad actors accountable, repair and recover from damages, and limit future climate harms. Over the past decade, there has been a sharp rise in groundbreaking lawsuits, including cases against the fossil fuel industry for climate-related fraud or damages by communities across the US and its territories.

Climate litigation is most effective when courts and legal teams use accurate, evidence-based information, including science from a range of disciplines.

Plaintiffs cite scientific research—including UCS-led publications—to build their cases, and rely on scientists as expert witnesses and advisors.

Science can provide evidence for many types of legal cases including human rights violations, consumer fraud, and misalignment of actions to legal commitments. Lawsuits against the opioid, lead, and tobacco industries provide examples of the role of scientific research in proving harm that has resulted from corporate actions and misconduct and in informing legal action to address those harms.

Learn more

• Read “The Science Connecting Extreme Weather to Climate Change”
• Read “The Human Right to a Stable Climate”
• Read “Research Gaps in Climate Litigation”
• Read UCS blogs about climate litigation or receive them directly in your inbox via our bimonthly newsletter.

Science-informed litigation can help those affected by climate change to hold polluters accountable for their damage and disinformation, and to build resilience against future climate impacts. Litigation-relevant research comes from a broad range of disciplines across physical and social sciences, and includes Indigenous Knowledge and the lived experience of communities.

UCS works with legal teams, scholars, and partners to identify research needs for climate litigation across scientific disciplines. Different fields of expertise can inform climate litigation.

Attribution science can play a critical role in lawsuits to hold polluters accountable and quantify the impacts their emissions have on vulnerable communities. Attribution science can help us better understand the connections between extreme weather and climate change, provide new insight into what specific emissions are driving the worst impacts, and help shape climate solutions.

• Lliuya vs. RWE: A Peruvian farmer takes on German utility for increasing flood damages from glacial melt.
• The Growing Impact of Attribution Science
• How Carbon Majors dataset can be used to hold polluters accountable
• How international courts can drive climate action
• Recent example of source attribution publication on wildfires in western North America.

Indigenous Knowledge comprises deep understanding of places and their environments developed and passed on through generations. It can often inform the assessment of the cultural impact of climate damages. Indigenous Knowledge can be as valuable as Western science in providing evidence to decision-makers.

• Cultural Heritage loss and the International Court of Justice
• A Call for Climate Justice at the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights
• The role of Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge holders in climate policy

Social sciences provide a range of evidence used in many lawsuits that allege consumer fraud through disinformation and greenwashing, knowingly selling products that put communities in harm's way and lying to consumers. Economic modeling can help quantify the costs of climate impacts, delay, and remedies.

• Consumer fraud and corporate accountability
• The Disinformation Playbook
• 6 things you need to know about communities suing the fossil fuel industry
• New evidence of ExxonMobil’s deception