Climate Change Litigation in Europe: Regional, Comparative and Sectoral Perspectives

Climate change litigation is emerging as a global response to the unfolding climate crisis. As global warming increases and the catastrophic consequences of climate change become apparent, individuals and civil society as a whole are increasingly looking to the judiciary to uphold public and private entities’ obligations to fight global warming and step-up actions to protect present and future generations.

Climate change litigation is particularly pertinent in Europe. Since the landmark decision in Urgenda v. The Kingdom of The Netherlands in 2015, climate cases have been filed across European jurisdictions and reaching European regional courts, such as the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights. Consequently, climate change litigation is also emerging as a consolidated body of knowledge and practices, with the common objective of enhancing climate change mitigation and adaptation action. It is a multi-faceted phenomenon, engaging with a wide array of substantive and procedural legal challenges and issues. Legal architectures and strategies for climate cases include, among others, environmental law, tort law, constitutional law, consumer law, administrative law and human rights law.

Against such a backdrop, Climate Change Litigation in Europe provides, for the first time, a comprehensive account of the most relevant developments around climate change litigation, with a specific focus on Europe. To this end, the book aims to address the phenomenon of climate change litigation from a threefold perspective. First, it unpacks the supranational dimension of climate change litigation within Europe, with a particular focus on European regional courts. Second, it provides a comparative analysis of climate change litigation from different European jurisdictions, in order to understand points of convergence and departures among the different approaches to the common problem of tackling global warming. Finally, it analyses relevant substantive and procedural issues underpinning both existing and future climate change litigation, ranging from human rights to state and corporate responsibilities, international trade and investment and procedural rights.

The book comprises contributions from highly experienced law practitioners and academics, as well as emerging and established experts in the field of climate law and environmental law. It contributes meaningfully to the burgeoning body of literature on climate change litigation by providing a fully-fledged picture of this global phenomenon within Europe.