Society does not tend to rest easy during times of crisis. Climate change and the unwillingness of powerful actors to impose binding measures on polluters has led to the development of a vast popular movement partaking in climate action. Individuals, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have come together to raise awareness on the implications of climate change. However, these actors often face or incur costs when they seek to pursue legal action to directly confront unsustainable actors. Thus, popular climate action groups have resorted to crowdfunding, a method of project fundraising in which small amounts of money are collected from a large donor base, to finance their projects.
Crowdfunding enables individuals to start projects that may have seemed impossible without financial aid. This is especially the case for litigation, which is costly due to advocacy campaigns as well as legal fees.
Fighting Unsustainable Actors Collectively
Civil society has played an increasing role in strategic litigation, or cases ‘with the goal of creating broader changes in society’ as defined by the Child Rights International Network. CSOs and NGOs are an asset for strategic litigation due to their ability to identify specific cases and raise awareness. In the legal process, they can initiate cases or join investigations as civil parties. However, this often pits them against powerful actors, especially corporations, which can use their financial resources as leverage during litigation as wealthier defendants usually fare better in court. This leverage can take the form of extensive trial procedures and repeated appeals as well as lobbying to mitigate damages.
Due to these financial barriers, crowdfunding is a means to empower civil society through strategic litigation. Indeed, crowdfunding reduces the financial impact of legal costs tied to strategic litigation by providing assets to parties active in the legal process. Furthermore, these platforms act as channels or a form of financial infrastructure for these groups and movements. Thus, crowdfunding platforms dedicated to strategic litigation and popular advocacy are essential to many causes. Furthermore, the process of crowdfunding, which generally relies on many small donations rather than fewer large donations, helps spread financial risk through limited individual exposure to insolvency.
Legal Crowdfunding in Action
Several entities have emerged and pursued legal action with extensive funding provided by crowdfunding initiatives as well as the use of specialized platforms. The platform CrowdJustice raised £144,774 from 3611 pledges for the case Duarte Agostinho and Others v. 32 Member States. The case was brought by a group of Portuguese children and young adults advised by the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN). They sought legal action against 32 countries at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The premise of the case was that European Governments are failing to take the necessary measures to mitigate the damage wrought by climate change and an eventual climate catastrophe (in violation of several ECHR articles). The ECHR issued its ruling on April 10, 2024, and it ultimately ruled that the case was inadmissible.
However, it did issue another ruling in a case brought by Senior Swiss Women against the Swiss Government, which set a precedent that government failures to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions constitute a violation of human rights. Similarly, civil society was standing for environmental defense. Three major CSOs, including Greenpeace Norway, the Grandparents Climate Campaign, and the group ‘Nature and Youth’, filed a lawsuit against the Norwegian government over the issuing of oil licenses. The plaintiffs alleged that the licenses for oil exploration in the Arctic Barents Sea issued by the government violated article 112 of the Norwegian Constitution, which guarantees the right to ‘an environment that is conducive to health and to a natural environment whose productivity and diversity are maintained’.
The popular appeal of the case led to a crowdfunding campaign which raised over 500 000 NOK in weeks, with donors sending funds to a dedicated webpage. The main plaintiffs also raised funds through their own networks.
In 2017, funding was restarted and the case also received a 250 000 NOK donation from the Greta Thunberg Foundation. The case was heard in the Oslo district court in November of the same year. Eventually, after a series of rulings in favor of the defendants, the case reached the Norwegian Supreme Court in December 2020, where the court again ruled against the plaintiffs. Since this final ruling, the plaintiffs have ended their fundraising campaigns.
Nonetheless, the case raised awareness on the issue and initiated public dissent, demonstrating the power of civil society when it can tear down the financial barriers to justice. This was accentuated by CSOs referring Norway to the ECHR over human rights violation entailed by these rulings.
Civil Society and Climate Action
The access to the legal process granted by crowdfunding initiatives is pivotal in the fight against unsustainability. Indeed, from a plurality standpoint crowdfunding enables a democratization of the legal process. It does this by granting wider access to the latter by reducing financial barriers to litigation.
Furthermore, crowdfunding enables CSOs and individuals to bring forward cases that may not have been brought previously due to conflicts of interest, especially within corporations and governments. Additionally, these crowdfunding initiatives can complement existing funding initiatives for CSOs and NGOs such as the EU System for an Enabling Environment for Civil Society (EU SEE) while avoiding the bureaucracy tied to releasing such EU funds.
Lastly, these crowdfunding initiatives can help cases reach higher courts, where they can set even more impactful precedents (as was the case with the Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland Case). Legal crowdfunding can empower civil society to engage in climate action by acting as a financial tool which can help initiate and facilitate strategic litigation. This then allows civil society to hold unsustainable actors such as governments or corporations to account, which existing climate initiatives have failed to do.
