"Vanuatu says it may sue fossil fuel companies and other countries over climate change", 22 November 2018

The Republic of Vanuatu says it will explore whether it can take legal action against fossil fuel companies and countries for their role in causing climate change.

...Vanuatu’s foreign minister, Ralph Regenvanu, said he was putting the fossil fuel industry “and the states that sponsor it on notice that the climate loss and damages ravaging Vanuatu will not go unchallenged”.

“My government is now exploring all avenues to utilise the judicial system in various jurisdictions – including under international law – to shift the costs of climate protection back onto the fossil fuel companies, the financial institutions and the governments that actively and knowingly created this existential threat to my country,” he said.

No such case brought by a country has been tested but there have been cases brought by citizens in domestic jurisdictions. Small island countries such as Vanuatu are especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change...Vanuatu...facing huge costs in trying to adapt to and prevent the impacts of climate change.

“The mechanism that has been but in place by the Paris agreement to assist least developed countries like Vanuatu to adapt and take measures to deal with loss and damage is the Green Climate Fund,” he said.

“Unfortunately countries like Australia who are the big polluters have just announced they will not contribute...