High Court rule climate plans lawful after legal challenge from Norfolk man
Mr Jordan, who was forced to move out of his seafront home in Hemsby, say they're now considering the judgement and their appeal options
The High Court has ruled that the UK Government's climate plans are lawful, after a legal challenge was brought by a man in Norfolk who lost his home to coastal erosion.
Kevin Jordan and 'Friends of the Earth' were told by Judge Martin Chamberlain that the 'National Adaptation Programme didn't violate human rights by not doing enough to combat and deal with the effects of this issue.
The climate adaptation programme is designed to protect citizens from the risks posed by high temperatures, coastal flooding and extreme weather.
The group's case relied in part on the European Court of Human Rights' April ruling that Switzerland violated its citizens' human rights by failing to do enough to combat climate change.
Although the previous government had not carried out a proper equality impact assessment, the result would "highly likely" be the same if it was done again, Judge Chamberlain said in a written ruling, dismissing that ground of challenge.
The judge also dismissed Friends of the Earth's other grounds of challenge to the lawfulness of Britain's strategy, including that it failed to mitigate the impact of climate change on people with disabilities.
Friends of the Earth's lawyer David Wolfe argued at the hearing in July that ministers had to set outcomes to address specific risks, rather than "a generic aim simply to reduce risks".
Friends of the Earth was one of three groups which successfully challenged Britain's separate, climate action plan earlier this year.
Mr Jordan- who was forced to move out of his seafront home in Hemsby, last December- say they're now considering the judgement and their appeal options.