Dennis van Berkel
Climate litigation tide riser
Legal counsel to the Urgenda Foundation and Director of the Climate Litigation Network
“If countries are not going to go through with increasing climate mitigation ambitions and taking action, it’s just inevitable that people will go to court and demand that their rights are respected.”
In 2015, the Urgenda Foundation won the world’s first legal case in which citizens established that their government has a legal duty to prevent dangerous climate change. Thanks to trailblazing litigators like Dennis Van Berkel, plaintiffs across the planet are now opening faster tracks to a sustainable future by taking governments to court over climate change mitigation efforts.
These days, Dennis is turning the tide into a movement through the Climate Litigation Network, which builds litigation bridges worldwide to support those seeking to increase national climate mitigation ambitions.
Dennis van Berkel will join us live as a remote guest and will interact with the festival audience.