The rise of international climate litigation

Abstract

International climate litigation is on the rise, with international courts and tribunals being asked to offer advisory opinions on climate change, several rights-based climate change claims being put forward before international human rights bodies and courts, and international economic tribunals increasingly being engaged with the issue. This special issue on international climate litigation examines these trends and seeks to better understand how international litigation may foster (or, sometimes, impede) action on climate change. In this introduction to the special issue, we offer our reflections based on some of the central themes of the special issue. In particular, we underscore the need to think strategically about the possible (intended and unintended) outcomes of international climate litigation.

Equity and Justice in Loss and Damage Finance: A Narrative Review of Catalysts and Obstacles

“…At the international level, courts and tribunals are increasingly being asked to offer advisory opinions on climate change, and human rights courts and bodies are hearing rights-based climate change claims [105]. In December 2022, the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law submitted an advisory request to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.…”

Landscapes of (In)justice: Reflecting on Voices, Spaces, and Alliances for Just Transition

“…coal mines in Australia and the UK, and oil and gas pipelines in the US), against individual fossil fuel companies (Shell in the Netherlands, Total in France, ExxonMobil in the US), and against carbon majors as a whole (in the Philippines). The recent case against Shell is perhaps one of the most telling examples: the Dutch court ordered Shell to achieve a specific emission reduction target along its entire supply chain, effectively suggesting that the company had to cut back production (Mayer and van Asselt 2023). But litigation has long been used as a strategy for addressing justice issues in the Niger Delta (Frynas 1999) and in Kenya (in the Lamu case and against several windfarm and geothermal projects) (Newell and Adow 2022).…”