If at First You Don’t Succeed: Suing Corporations for Climate Change

Ganguly, Geetanjali; Setzer, Joana; Heyvaert, Veerle

doi:10.1093/ojls/gqy029

Cited by 91 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Not surprisingly, major carbon and oil producers are responding as plaintiffs in private climate change‐related lawsuits. Scholars identify the potential effectiveness of targeting a relatively small group of corporations who are responsible for a large percentage of emissions (Ganguly, Setzer, & Heyvaert, ; Hsu, ). This trend was supported by Richard Heede's () work, which was the first to map and quantify the cumulative emissions of the 90 largest carbon producers (the “Carbon Majors”) from 1854 to 2010 (see also Frumhoff, Heede, & Oreskes, ).…”

Section: Overview Of the Literature On Climate Change Litigationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Richard Heede's () “Carbon Majors” was expressly developed to provide lawyers seeking to hold corporations liable with the evidence‐base to legally establish the causal link between corporate activity and climate change. The research has been regarded as “a turning point in the debate about apportioning responsibility for climate change” (Starr, , p. 859; see also Benjamin, ; Ganguly et al, ). In anti‐regulatory cases, claims often challenge climate science or the legitimacy of climate scientists (Ley, ).…”

Section: Key Themes and Emerging Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Climate change litigation: A review of research on courts and litigants in climate governance

Setzer

Vanhala

2019

WIREs Climate Change

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Studies of climate change litigation have proliferated over the past two decades, as lawsuits across the world increasingly bring policy debates about climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as climate change-related loss and damage to the attention of courts. We systematically identify 130 articles on climate change litigation published in English in the law and social sciences between 2000 and 2018 to identify research trajectories. In addition to a budding interdisciplinarity in scholarly interest in climate change litigation we also document a growing understanding of the full spectrum of actors involved and implicated in climate lawsuits and the range of motivations and/or strategic imperatives underpinning their engagement with the law. Situating this within the broader academic literature on the topic we then highlight a number of cutting edge trends and opportunities for future research. Four emerging themes are explored in detail: the relationship between litigation and governance; how time and scale feature in climate litigation; the role of science; and what has been coined the "human rights turn" in climate change litigation. We highlight the limits of existing work and the need for future research-not limited to legal scholarship-to evaluate the impact of both regulatory and antiregulatory climate-related lawsuits, and to explore a wider set of jurisdictions, actors and themes. Addressing these issues and questions will help to develop a deeper understanding of the conditions under which litigation will strengthen or undermine climate governance. This article is categorized under: Policy and Governance > Multilevel and Transnational Climate Change Governance K E Y W O R D S climate change litigation, climate governance, climate lawsuits, regulation 1 | INTRODUCTIONCourts are playing an increasingly visible role in policy debates about climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as climate change-related loss and damage. 1 Lawsuits addressing the causes and consequences of climate change-such as the expansion of airports, the reliance on coal-powered energy and the climate-related erosion of the habitats of endangered species-are increasingly apparent in national courts, and scholars even see a potential role for international tribunals to address climate harms (e.g., Bodansky, 2017;Sands, 2016). This article is, to our knowledge, the first to systematically review key literature on climate change litigation over the last 20 years. We build on this to identify new horizons for a forward-

show abstract

Section: Overview Of the Literature On Climate Change Litigationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Key Themes and Emerging Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change litigation: A review of research on courts and litigants in climate governance

Setzer

Vanhala

2019

WIREs Climate Change

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Finally, they continue to work towards the expanded production and use of fossil fuels for decades to come. This multi-faceted responsibility has inspired a growing number of legal cases against the carbon majors brought in domestic courts around the world, notably including suits brought by cities and local governments on behalf of their citizens (Ganguly, Setzer, & Heyvaert, 2018). Plaintiffs in these cases are invoking a wide range of legal theories, ranging from public and private nuisance through to trespass (Burger & Wentz, 2018).…”

Section: Legal Action To Pursue Compensation For Climate Loss and Damagementioning

confidence: 99%

Between negotiations and litigation: Vanuatu’s perspective on loss and damage from climate change

Wewerinke‐Singh

Salili

2019

Climate Policy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This contribution explores how climate-vulnerable states can effectively use the law to force action in order to address loss and damage from climate change, taking the Pacific Island state of Vanuatu as an example. Vanuatu made headlines when its Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and External Trade, the Hon. Ralph Regenvanu, announced his government's intention to explore legal action as a tool to address climate loss and damage suffered in Vanuatu. Our contribution places this announcement in the context of Vanuatu's own experience with climate loss and damage, and the state's ongoing efforts to secure compensation for loss and damage through the multilateral climate change regime. We then discuss the possibilities for legal action to seek redress for climate loss and damage, focusing on two types of action highlighted in Minister Regenvanu's statement: action against states under international law, and action against fossil fuel companies under domestic law. After concluding that the issue of compensation for climate loss and damage is best addressed at the multilateral level, we offer proposals on how the two processes of litigation and negotiation could interact with each other and inspire more far-reaching action to address loss and damage from climate change. Key policy insights. The review of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage offers an opportunity to start putting in place a facility for loss and damage finance under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).. A climate damages tax (CDT) on fossil fuel companies seems a particularly promising option for mobilizing loss and damage finance. Such a CDT could be one revenue stream for a relevant loss and damage facility.. Legal actionincluding cases against foreign states or fossil fuel companiescould bolster the position of climate-vulnerable states in multilateral negotiations on loss and damage finance.

show abstract

“…The case was initially dismissed at a local German court but then admitted by a higher appeals court. As the first lawsuit of its kind to reach this stage, it was considered a significant breakthrough in 80 climate litigation (Ganguly et al, 2018;Huggel et al, 2016). Although the literature on climate litigation is steadily growing (Marjanac and Patton, 2018;McCormick et al, 2018), questions of responsibility, and possibly liability, in a case like Palcacocha, remain mostly unanswered and hence call for studies that analyze risk and responsibility during climatic, cryospheric, and societal change.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Anthropogenic climate change and glacier lake outburst flood risk: local and global drivers and responsibilities for the case of Lake Palcacocha, Peru

Huggel¹,

Carey²,

Emmer³

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Evidence of observed negative impacts on natural and human systems from anthropogenic climate change is increasing. However, human systems in particular are dynamic and influenced by multiple drivers, and hence identifying an anthropogenic climate signal is challenging. Here we analyze the case of lake Palcacocha in the Andes of Peru which offers a representative model for other glacier lakes and related risks around the world because it features a dynamic evolution of flood risk driven by physical and socio-economic factors and processes. Furthermore, it is the object of a prominent climate litigation case where a local Peruvian citizen sued a large German energy producer over risk of flooding from lake Palcacocha. Adopting a conceptual model of cascading impacts and multiple drivers of risk we first study climatic and other geophysical drivers of flood risk. We find that an anthropogenic signal related to greenhouse gas emissions is traceable. In parallel, flood risk has been strongly shaped (and increased) by interacting socio-economic, institutional and cultural processes over the past decades. The case raises important questions of responsibility for flood risk of global and local agents which, however, are difficult to address in cases like Palcacocha where we reveal a complex network of interlinked global, national and local drivers. Following from this we outline a normative framework with a differentiated perspective on responsibility, implying that global emitters commit to support strengthening capacities in affected regions and localities, and local institutions and societies engage in local risk reduction measures and policies.

show abstract

If at First You Don’t Succeed: Suing Corporations for Climate Change

Cited by 91 publications

References 0 publications

Climate change litigation: A review of research on courts and litigants in climate governance

Climate change litigation: A review of research on courts and litigants in climate governance

Between negotiations and litigation: Vanuatu’s perspective on loss and damage from climate change

Anthropogenic climate change and glacier lake outburst flood risk: local and global drivers and responsibilities for the case of Lake Palcacocha, Peru

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About