Global warming is an increasingly important subject of public discussion and debate. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently issued a highly publicized report concluding that the existence of global warming is “unequivocal” and that there is a 90 percent probability that it has been caused primarily by a buildup of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases generated by human activity.
There has been ever rising concern that worldwide climate change is harming the environment, the economy and the health and well-being of human beings. On Feb. 13, New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine signed Executive Order 54, which calls for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, approximately a 20 percent reduction. Under these circumstances, can litigation over global warming be far behind? In fact, over a dozen lawsuits involving global warming issues have already been brought in state and federal courts and more are anticipated.
