Our key takeaway: The use of human rights in climate change litigation is on the rise. We are seeing a growing number of rights-based claims against states and public authorities, but also increasingly companies. These cases are expecting corporate actors to undertake climate change adaptation and/or mitigation strategies, and can be based on a positive or negative duty, or corporate procedural duties. On the flip side of the coin (or the ‘far side of the moon’, to quote Annalisa Savaresi and Joana Setzer), we are seeing a growth in just transition litigation: these are cases against states and companies for not taking human rights into account as they transition to net zero. Their analysis underscores the imperative of taking a rights-based approach to climate change decision making. To conclude with their words: We “need to explore the new frontier of just transition litigation to better understand how governments and corporations can address the climate emergency and deliver net zero emissions, and an energy transition that is inclusive and in line with human rights.”
Annalisa Savaresi and Joana Setzer have published ‘Rights-based litigation in the climate emergency: mapping the landscape and new knowledge frontiers’ in a new special issue of the Journal of Human Rights and the Environment. The article is available here, and the authors’ summary is available here: