Just Transition Litigation in Latin America: An Initial Categorization of Climate Litigation Cases Amid the Energy Transition

The Legal Form of Climate Change Litigation: An Inquiry into the Transformative Potential and Limits of Private Law

“…First, because of the still-unsatisfactory actions undertaken by legislators and governments, as the disappointing outcomes of COP27 and COP28 (27th and 28th Conferences of the Parties) show only too well. Second, because of the growing juridification of the issues related to climate change, which should foster further litigation pursuing climate justice (Tigre et al 2023). It has been shown that global climate change disproportionately affects those who have least contributed to the problem and have fewer resources to face it (Gonzalez and Mutua 2022, 173;Chancel, Bothe, and Voituriez 2023), but the current legal framework at the international level fails to address the root causes of climate change and the related social, racial (Gonzalez 2020;Kotzé, Du Toit, and French 2021;Villavicencio Calzadilla 2021), and gender (Morrow 2021) injustices.…”

Human rights and access to modern energy services

“…167 Shah and Sivakumaran noted that the UPR seems to eschew some of the traditional distinctions between hard and soft law in this sense, even if States also clearly still favour treaties as legal points of reference. 168 They see the embrace of soft law as a positive development. For, it emphasizes the relevance of such instruments.…”

“…167 Instead, their access to energy remains intermittent and unaffordable due to high prices, especially for those 11% of people living in 'extreme poverty'. 168 Similar to the displaced in the Río Negro case, this indigenous community experienced limitations on fuelwood collection, which historically served both economic and cultural purposes as an important source of income and livelihoods, especially for the women and the most impoverished. Land enclosures make fuel scarce and expensive, affecting rights to adequate standards of living, land and culture.…”

“…keeping in mind their wider objectives for national housing policy or utility planning, and the complex and country-specific assessments of all needs and priorities that require public spending and resource allocation. 168 Nevertheless, States have a 'legal and financial obligation' to ensure minimum levels of services that are compatible with protection of health and human dignity, so as to not effectively erode the 'core' of the right to private and family life . 169 The specific levels of supplies that should be reasonably provided under Article 8 ECHR are not specified, but they seem to be shaped by the generally 'inherently progressive nature of developing a public water supply system' for the whole population, in conjunction with assessments of non-discrimination.…”

“…droughts, extreme weather) and of course, the growing calls for a ('just') transition to cleaner and renewable energy. 168 In this sense, it would be no surprise if existing UN Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council decided to take up the relationship between human rights and energy poverty in more detail shortly, or the question of a right to energy specifically. In some significant ways, this has already occurred in the past three years (e.g.…”