17 May 2022
Direct Democracy or Climate Litigation?
The Klimaseniorinnen case has gained worldwide attention since the announcement of the relinquishment in favour of the Grand Chamber. The case is one of many strategic proceedings initiated around the world to sanction inaction or insufficient action by states on climate issues. While the Swiss government claims that the Swiss political system, with its democratic instruments, offers sufficient possibilities for the consideration of such claims, this blog post argues that the Swiss right to initiative alone is not sufficiently effective and therefore not an alternative to legal proceedings. Continue reading >>
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16 May 2022
Climate Change Litigation Before the ECtHR
Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland is the first case of climate change litigation before the ECtHR where all domestic remedies have been exhausted. The Chamber to which the case had been allocated relinquished jurisdiction in favour of the Grand Chamber. This reinforces the potential of the case to become a landmark ruling determining the Court’s approach to climate change.
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26 March 2022
‘Don’t Look Up’, Look ‘South’
There is no doubt: climate law is about to become one of the most important issues in comparative constitutional and international law. The institutional and legal questions are tricky, the number of cases exploding, and, more importantly: the stakes are high. On the very day we kicked off this blog debate the world was hit by the news of an “impossible” and “unthinkable” temperature surge in the Arctic and Antarctic, with climate journalists stating in shock that “Antarctic climatology has been rewritten”. On the day this blog debate concluded we learned of an “unprecedented sixth mass coral bleaching event” in the Great Barrier Reef, with scientists demanding immediate action yet again. Continue reading >>
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25 March 2022
Indigenous Climate Litigation in Anglophone Settler-Colonial States
The legacy of colonialism suggests a shared affinity between climate litigation in the Global South, and climate litigation brought by Indigenous peoples in the settler-colonial states of the Global North. This blog post focuses on claims brought by Indigenous peoples in the Anglophone settler-colonial states of Australia, Canada, the United States and Aotearoa/New Zealand. I begin by setting out the disproportionate impact of climate change experienced by Indigenous peoples, as well as Indigenous movements of resistance and adaptation. In doing so, I draw on claims brought by various Indigenous groups and individuals in the course of climate litigation. Framing climate litigation as part of this response, I then survey Indigenous climate litigation across the four jurisdictions. I end with some notes of caution regarding the essentializing and exploitation of Indigenous peoples by the climate litigation movement, cautions which may be applicable to litigation in the Global South. Continue reading >>
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24 March 2022
Climate Law as a ‘Living Tree’
Last year, the Australian decision of a Federal Court judge in Sharma v Minister for the Environment made headlines around the world. In the decision, the judge found that the Federal Environment Minister owed Australian children a duty of care to prevent harm from climate change. This year, the Sharma case has once again attracted attention, albeit for the opposite reason. In March 2022, the Full Court of the Federal Court allowed the Minister’s appeal and overturned the primary judge’s finding of a novel duty of care. This decision has emphasised the limits of legal concepts and courts in addressing future climate damages. However, the unfavourable outcome does not mark the end for climate litigation in Australia. Continue reading >>
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21 March 2022
Comparative Climate Litigation in North-South Perspective
If the catastrophe we face is one “for the world and humanity”, isn’t it time to rethink some of our core beliefs regarding institutional roles and the role of the judiciary? If current institutional arrangements fail when addressing the global climate catastrophe, aren’t we in dire need of alternative approaches when thinking about the role of law and courts? We as editors of the forthcoming blog debate neither can nor want to provide answers to these questions here. Instead, we argue that we should look to the Global South for lessons when reflecting on the role of law and institutions in tackling the climate crisis. Continue reading >>
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07 September 2021
World Lawyers’ Pledge on Climate Action
The world is facing climate emergency, one of a series of overlapping and mutually reinforcing environmental crises. In 2017, more than 15,000 scientists from 184 countries signed the World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity, urging the world to take immediate action against the current trajectory of catastrophic climate change. We, as concerned lawyers, have heard the world scientists’ call, and believe it is time for the legal community at large to organize and join the global fight against climate change. Continue reading >>
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04 July 2021
The Grande Synthe Saga Continues
France’s highest administrative court ruled that the French government had failed to take sufficient action to mitigate climate change and ordered it to take additional measures to redress that failure. The Grande Synthe II decision of 1 July 2021 follows the findings by the Conseil d’État in a previous decision that France’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets constitute legal obligations that are enforceable against the state. However, how, and when to redress France’s failure have been, to a broad extent, left to the discretion of the government. This all but ensures the Grande Synthe saga to continue. Continue reading >>
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