ClientEarth withdraws case against Belgian National Bank

Environmental law charity Client Earth has withdrawn a case against Belgium’s central bank, the Belgian National Bank. In 2021, ClientEarth sued the bank over the climate impact of its bond purchases under the corporate sector purchase programme (CSPP). Under the CSPP, implemented as part of the bank’s quantitative easing policy, the bank was purchasing bonds issued by some of Europe’s most emissions-intensive companies. ClientEarth had argued that by providing polluters with “favourable lending conditions” the bank had breached environmental protection and human rights obligations. The withdrawal of the case is reportedly a result of a policy reform by the European Central Bank (ECB) wherein bond purchases will be “tilted” away from emissions-intensive companies. Jamie Sawyer, a lawyer at ClientEarth, said: “Our case forced the ECB to confront whether it could legally continue to direct finance to some of Europe’s worst polluters in the face of a climate emergency.”