LISBON (Reuters) – Environmental groups have filed a legal action in a Lisbon court against Portugal over an alleged failure to put into practice its own regulation to tackle climate change, they said on Monday.
Portugal approved in 2021 a set of regulatory policies and legal instruments to combat climate change, but the three environmental groups – Ultimo Recurso, Quercus and Sciaena – say “little progress” has been made to meet goals and deadlines.
In a joint statement, the associations said the government was yet to create a portal for citizens to track the status of regulation and publish a carbon budget, which would establish a CO2 emissions cap.
They also said the government had not fully implemented measures of its national energy and climate plan (PNEC) as well as sector-specific policies for climate mitigation.
The government said in June it was reviewing the PNEC and that by 2026 Portugal would generate 80% of its electricity from renewable sources. Renewables supplied around 68% of the country’s electricity from January to October this year.
“What evidence does the government need more to act on compliance with the urgency of the climate crisis? Every deadline we miss … increases the likelihood of catastrophic climate events,” said Francisca Costa, from Ultimo Recurso, which means “last resort” in Portuguese.
The Portuguese government did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
As global temperatures and emissions climb, activists are increasingly turning to courtrooms to challenge governments and fossil fuel companies’ activities. In the last five years, the number of climate-related court cases more than doubled.
Analysts say the strategy appears to be working, with more than half of cases with judicial outcomes leaning toward stronger climate action, according to a 2023 report from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
(Reporting by Catarina Demony; Editing by Mark Potter)
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