On April 13, 2021, ClientEarth filed suit against the Belgian National Bank for failing to meet environmental, climate, and human rights requirements when purchasing bonds from fossil fuel and other greenhouse-gas intensive companies. The Belgian National Bank has participated in the European Central Bank's Corporate Sector Purchase Program (CSPP), in which six national central banks purchase bonds from eligible companies to improve financing conditions by lowering debt costs. ClientEarth alleges that over half of bonds purchased under the CSPP were issued by greenhouse-gas intensive sectors and that the program, therefore, exacerbates the climate crisis. ClientEarth alleges that the Belgian National Bank's participation in the CSPP, by not taking into account climate, environment, and human rights impacts, violated Article 11 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU and Article 37 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (both concern the obligation to integrate environmental protection into EU policies). As part of its case, ClientEarth sought a preliminary reference to the European Court of Justice to determine whether the decision to establish the CSPP was lawful; it argues that it was not because of the failure to take into account climate considerations in designing the CSPP as required by EU law, because the CSPP is itself inconsistent with EU climate policy, and become it undermines the European Union's emissions reduction targets.

In December 2021, the Brussels Tribunal of First Instance rejected ClientEarth's application on procedural grounds in a judgment against which ClientEarth launched an appeal in early 2022. While the appeal procedure was pending, ClientEarth announced that it would withdraw its case "after the European Central Bank (ECB) accepted its legal obligations to consider the climate in quantitative easing reforms," which remedies the violations ClientEarth had alleged on the part of the Belgian National Bank.

ClientEarth v. Belgian National Bank

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ClientEarth v. Belgian National Bank - press release

Filed

Belgium

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

A financial institution that manages a country's currency and can promote climate-related initiatives through green monetary policy and other means.

A target to reduce the prevalence of a greenhouse gas over a specific time frame

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

Coal is a combustible sedimentary rock formed from carbonised plant matter, rich in carbon and hydrocarbons, and occurring in several main types including hard coal and brown coal.

Activities of businesses and institutions that provide financial services and products to individuals and organisations.

ClientEarth v. Belgian National Bank - press release

Target

Fossil fuel

Economic sector

Finance