Protecting the Environment and People from Climate Change through Climate Change Litigation

Okonkwo, Theodore

doi:10.5539/jpl.v10n5p66

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…The rising trend in cases filed ( Fig 1 ) indicates a growing expectation that actors ought to be held accountable for actions which wreak havoc on the environment and threaten the prospect of sustaining a climate compatible with human life. These temporal trends are generally consistent with findings from other studies which have documented a relatively consistent rise in both US- and non-US-filed climate litigation cases [ 84 ].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Despite the trend in plaintiffs using litigation as a legal tool for climate action, it remains unclear, from our results and other studies [ 84 ], to what extent climate litigation generates new government legislation or policy. This uncertainty is especially pronounced among LMICs, where the frequency of filed cases remains extremely low, representing only 2% (n = 35) of the 360 non-US cases.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

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Legal implications of the climate-health crisis: A case study analysis of the role of public health in climate litigation

Toolan

Marcus²,

Hanna³

et al. 2022

PLoS ONE

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Background Strong scientific evidence affirms that climate change is now a public health emergency. Increasingly, climate litigation brought against governments and corporations utilizes international human rights, environmental and climate laws and policies to seek accountability for climate-destructive and health-harming actions. The health impacts of climate change make litigation an important means of pursuing justice and strategically challenging legal systems. Yet there is scant documentation in the literature of the role that public health has played in climate litigation and the legal weight public health narratives are given in such contexts. Therefore, we assessed to what extent courts of law have used public health harm in legal adjudication and sought to provide practical recommendations to address barriers to positioning legal arguments in public health-centric frames. Methods We reviewed legal databases to identify all publicly reported, documented, cases of climate litigation filed in any country or jurisdiction between 1990 and September 2020. For the 1641 cases identified, we quantified the frequency of cases where health concerns were explicitly or implicitly raised. Findings Case numbers are trending upwards, notably in high income countries. Resolution remains pending in over half of cases as the majority were initiated in the past three years. Cases were primarily based in climate and human rights law and brought by a wide range of groups and individuals predominantly against governments. About half of the decided cases found in favour for the plaintiffs. Based on this, we selected the 65 cases that were directly linked to public health. We found economic forces and pricing of health risks play a key role, as courts are challenged by litigants to adjudicate on the responsibility for health impacts. Conclusions While courts of law are receptive to public health science, significant legal reform is needed to enhance leveraging of public health evidence in legal judgements of climate litigation cases. The integration of a public health mandate into a new eco-centric legal paradigm will optimize its potential to promote human well-being—the core objective underpinning both international law, human rights, and public health. Existing legal doctrines and practices can be enhanced to increase the weight of public health arguments in climate legal action and consequently ensure legal rulings in climate litigation prioritize, protect and promote public health.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Legal implications of the climate-health crisis: A case study analysis of the role of public health in climate litigation

Toolan

Marcus²,

Hanna³

et al. 2022

PLoS ONE

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“…We can distinguish between countries in the global north and south, the former being the most litigious. Most litigation occurs in developed countries, such as New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom, United States, Netherlands and Austria, with the United States representing almost 2/3 of the world's litigation (Okonkwo, 2017).…”

Section: The National Levelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change in international law

Bañuelos

2021

Redic

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“…These jurisdictions are broadly covered by the scholarship: the United States (Colares & Ristovski, ; Markell & Ruhl, ), the United Kingdom (Hilson, ), Australia (Bartel, McFarland, & Hearfield, ; Peel, ; Preston, ). A smaller number of scholars have engaged in doing comparative studies between these jurisdictions (Okonkwo, ; Peel et al, ; Peel & Osofsky, ; Schatz, ; Vanhala, ). But, once again, while the number of legal cases in the Global South has been growing in quantity and importance (e.g., Pakistan, India, the Philippines, South Africa, Colombia, and Brazil), these are yet to receive much scholarly attention (but see Peel & Osofsky, ; Peel & Lin, ).…”

Section: Overview Of the Literature On Climate Change Litigationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, the failure to reach agreement on a comprehensive, binding international treaty to limit GHG emissions at the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen in 2009 was seen as a major driver of climate change litigation (Gupta, 2007;Peel & Osofsky, 2015;Preston, 2011a;Vanhala, 2013). Second, litigation activity was understood to be a response to the existence as well as the dearth of climate change regulation at the national level; key cases in Canada and the United States in the early 2000s are emblematic (Michaelowa, 2007;Okonkwo, 2017;Vanhala, 2013). Third, scholars noted that in some cases courts were understood as venues in which to support, contest or augment the implementation and enforcement of climate legislation (Peel, 2011;Preston, 2011a).…”

Section: The Relationship Between Climate Litigation and Legislationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Setzer

Vanhala

2019

WIREs Climate Change

105

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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-

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Protecting the Environment and People from Climate Change through Climate Change Litigation

Cited by 6 publications

References 5 publications

Legal implications of the climate-health crisis: A case study analysis of the role of public health in climate litigation

Legal implications of the climate-health crisis: A case study analysis of the role of public health in climate litigation

Climate change in international law

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

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