Urgenda Against The State Of The Netherlands

As it hasn’t sufficiently reduced greenhouse gas emissions, the Netherlands couldn’t fulfill its duty of care towards its citizens, neither under Dutch Tort Law nor from a Human Rights perspective. According to the issuing courts there is a sufficient causal link between the greenhouse gas emissions of the Netherlands, global climate change, and the Dutch living environment, even if these emissions are relatively small. The courts played an important role in this case and were able to interfere in policy matters (despite the separation of powers) as they only set the required mitigation outcome but no specific measures on how to reach this outcome.

Climate Litigation: The Growing Importance Of Legal Battles Within The Climate Movement

Climate litigation has surged in recent years as activists seek strategic legal victories to influence government and corporate climate policies. These legal arguments tend to be grounded in human rights, emphasising the positive obligations on states to respect the lives, health and futures of their citizens. However, claimants face difficulties in proving causation and satisfying procedural standing barriers; it is hoped that improvements in attribution science will ease these issues in the future.

Categories Law & Justice

Climate Responsibility: Strengthening the Existing Frameworks

Although the Paris Agreement rules that states must all do what they can to keep global warming below 1.5°C, it does not provide binding requirements on how they should do so, in accordance with the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities”. It also does not bind corporations, who are the world’s largest GHG emitters. Although the Paris Agreement and the NDCs are the best climate framework we have been able to develop to this day, there are ways in which they could be strengthened. We could establish clear minimum emission requirements, for instance, or apply a similar framework of NDCs to large businesses.

Categories Climate Justice

Climate Responsibility: Principles and Frameworks

One of the biggest challenges in setting out frameworks to address climate change is determining how to attribute responsibility and how to share the burden of emission reduction measures. Despite the fact that not all states are equally responsible for the climate crisis and do not have the same ability to respond to it, under the Paris Agreement they must all do what they can to keep global warming below 1.5°C.

Categories Climate Justice

Addressing Climate Migration Through the Platform on Disaster Displacement: The Practice

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the number of people displaced by natural disasters and the effects of climate change will grow exponentially over the next few decades. This second article of a two-part series presents some of the key recommendations from the 2015 Agenda for the Protection of Cross-Border Displaced Persons in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change (Protection Agenda).

Categories Environmental Law

Addressing Climate Migration through the Platform on Disaster Displacement: The Theory

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the number of people displaced by natural disasters and the effects of climate change will grow exponentially over the next few decades. This first article of a two-part series introduces some of the challenges stemming from cross-border disaster displacement, and examines the context which led to the launch of the Platform on Disaster Displacement and the 2015 Protection Agenda.

Categories Environmental Law

Constitutionalising Environmental Protection: How to Create a Right for Nature?

The Escazú Agreement is a multilateral treaty across Latin America and the Caribbean committing to people’s right to a healthy environment. It has been signed by 24 countries and ratified by 12 in an unprecedented move to protect the environment in the region. The judicial system is an essential part of protecting and giving rights to nature.

Categories Environmental Law