Is climate the new asbestos? Directors of polluting industries
should check their liability insurance. JUST hours after the
United States House of Representatives passed legislation
curtailing greenhouse gas emissions, business groups were
talking about going to court. The US Environmental Protection
Agency proposition that greenhouse gas endangers public health
and contributes to global warming is expected to result in a
tsunami of litigation. It's not just those court-loving
Americans either. In Australia, lawyers say, if the Senate is
persuaded to adopt Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's emissions trading
scheme, some big emitters might well challenge the allocations
they get. Elsewhere, climate change litigation is shaping up as
an issue that will tie up the judiciary, companies and politics
worldwide for years. While other sectors of the global economy
are bracing for the negative impact of government legislation on
climate change, the litigation industry is set to boom. Insurer
Swiss Re warns that climate chan