Climate campaigners are bombarding the courts with lawsuits against energy companies in a new attempt to end the use of fossil fuels.
There are 132 climate cases in the British legal system at present, according to the London School of Economics, up from 102 a year ago.
It makes this country the third highest centre for climate litigation in the world after the US and Australia.
The LSE suggested that this year will set a new record for the number of cases, with a further wave of action expected as environmental lawyers increasingly pioneer new legal concepts such as “ecocide”.
Their aim is to tie up oil and gas company executives with legal action or even trials over accusations that the emissions from their products killed people.
The study follows last month’s Supreme Court ruling on a separate case taken by lone environmentalist Sarah Finch.
It ordered that planning authorities considering new drilling sites must in future account for the emissions released by burning the fossil fuels produced.
The ruling has left the UK industry in turmoil, uncertain if it can ever develop another oil or gas field, and marks a likely final nail in the prospects for fracking in the UK.
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