Socio-environmental Movements and LFFU Framing, Tactics and Court Cases

This chapter examines how actors such as socio-environmental move­ments can promote through a variety of tactics a niche change in one area which can possibly ripple into a regime or landscape change. The chapter presents a number of fossil fuel-oriented social movements and identifies lessons learnt from criteria for successful social movements. Successful movements operated in politically open states, focused on states and companies, mobilized grievances, had clear local and economic frames, used lobbying and court cases. There are hundreds of court cases globally, but in the Global South these are just beginning. Most court cases led to decisions that could enhance mitigative action and are more successful than the other strategies of social movements. Courts flourish better in more democratic countries, however, so far they have tended to be niche ideas or sometimes regime-change events.