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What are emerging trends in climate litigation?
There are emerging and innovative trends in climate litigation as activists and citizens worldwide are increasingly turning to courts for climate solutions.
Key trends of climate litigation include human rights-related to environmental assets and protections, intergenerational equity, corporate accountability, and innovative legal concepts, said UNDP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific Kanni Wignaraja.
As for human rights-related to environmental assets and protections, courts are recognizing the connection between climate change and human rights, boosting protections and accountability. Many courts now interpret constitutional rights to include environmental protections, Wignaraja added.
Concerning intergenerational equity, cases by youth emphasize the unequal impact of climate change on future generations and how climate justice is one of the main advocacy issues for youth worldwide, she said.
Regarding corporate accountability, courts are extending climate obligations to businesses, she added.
As for innovative legal concepts, new principles like “water justice” and recognizing nature’s legal rights are gaining traction, for example trees as living beings, she expounded.
Since 2017, climate change court cases have surged, particularly in the US, but increasingly worldwide. Cases tripled from 884 in 2017 to 2,540 in 2023, with about 17 percent now occurring in developing countries, including small island developing states. The legal landscape is evolving, with significant rulings in Asia and the Pacific driving change.
On 23 October 2024, India’s Supreme Court declared a pollution-free environment a fundamental right, underscoring the government’s duty to provide clean air and water. In April 2024, the European Court of Human Rights ruled against the Swiss State for inadequate climate action, affirming climate change as a human rights issue.
Thanks to the leading role of the Pacific Island State of Vanuatu at the UN General Assembly, now the International Court of Justice is hearing a landmark case on climate justice – its largest case ever – to determine what countries and companies are obliged to do under international law to protect the climate and environment from human-caused greenhouse gas emissions; and to determine the legal consequences for governments, where their acts or lack of action have significantly harmed the climate and environment. The court’s advisory opinion can be expected to influence climate-related legal action and policy for decades to come.
These legal advances compel the public and private sectors to consider and define more ambitious climate goals, offering citizens and activists new paths to enforce accountability.
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