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L’Europe connaît depuis l’année 2015 l’essor d’une jurisprudence dite « climatique », issue de l’activité judiciaire sans précédent d’associations, individus et collectivités territoriales. Alors même que les juges nationaux y répondent de manière inégale, l’on observe l’émergence d’éléments communs aux différents recours déposés, ainsi qu’aux différentes décisions rendues. L’objet de cette chronique, la première d’une série annuelle, est de mettre en avant ces éléments communs autour de trois axes faisant le point sur (I) les acteurs ( juridictions saisies, profil des requérants et des défendeurs) (II) les interrogations fondamentales qui animent les recours et (III) les sources du droit mobilisées, en ce compris l’invocation des droits humains., Europe has been experiencing since 2015 the rise of a “climate” jurisprudence resulting from the unprecedented judicial activity of associations, individuals and local authorities. Even though national judges respond in an unequal manner, one observes the emergence of common elements in the way lawsuits are constructed and in the content of judicial decisions. The purpose of this column, the first in an annual series, is to highlight these common elements around three axes: (I) actors ( the courts, the profile of the applicants and defendants), (II) fundamental questions being raised though such lawsuits, and (III) the main sources of law being mobilized, including the invocation of human rights.

The progression of climate change has brought the issue of intergenerational justice further into focus. At the same time, there has been a global increase in climate litigation. Activists increasingly use litigation and fundamental and human rights as instruments to enforce their demands for intergenerational justice. This thesis, therefore, focuses on the question of whether climate litigation can transform intergenerational justice from a political norm into a human rights-based, justiciable right. Previous studies identified a human-rights turn in climate litigation. In addition, other studies revealed that climate activists are increasingly using intergenerational framing. However, the relationship between intergenerational justice and human rights is understudied. This thesis addresses the existing research gap. Utilizing a mechanism-based account, the legal framing and the legal interpretation of the Neubauer case, decided by the German Federal Constitutional Court are analyzed to show the transformation of intergenerational justice into a matter of human rights. Moreover, climate litigation cases at the ECtHR are analyzed whether they contain references to Neubauer to identify indicators for a precedent-setting effect upon the supranational human rights framework of ECHR. This thesis demonstrates the importance of climate litigation as a policy tool in national and international climate governance.

The objective of this study is to present the current state of what has been called climate litigation in defense of human rights in the context of the latest scientific advances, as well as by virtue of current regulatory, jurisprudential, and doctrinal developments on the matter. Whether an international human right to a healthy and sustainable environment can be deduced from the interaction between international environmental and human rights obligations assumed by States, and even whether we can speak of an autonomous right. Likewise, whether there are possibilities to enforce compliance directly or indirectly through the application of general environmental principles, in particular, those of precaution and due diligence. Nature as a possible holder of rights, future generations or rights and their framing in the notion of «potential victim» of intertemporal risk, the existence of global or collective obligations and the individual responsibility of States, are some of the issues that will be developed and that are pending final judicial resolution.Prior to these questions, it is necessary to analyze, even briefly, certain judicial trends that have caused judicial activism in defense of common legal rights in different areas, including action against climate change., El objetivo del presente estudio es presentar el estado actual de lo que se ha denominado litigación climática en defensa de los derechos humanos en el contexto de los últimos avances científicos, así como en virtud de los actuales desarrollos normativos, jurisprudenciales y doctrinales sobre la materia. Si de la interacción entre las obligaciones internacionales medioambientales y de derechos humanos asumidas por los Estados puede deducirse un derecho humano internacional al medio ambiente sano y sostenible, e incluso si podemos hablar de un derecho autónomo. Igualmente, si existen posibilidades de exigir su cumplimiento de forma directa o indirecta a través de la aplicación de los principios generales medioambientales, en particular, los de precaución y diligencia debida. La naturaleza como posible titular de derechos, las generaciones o derechos futuros y su encuadre en la noción de «victima potencial» de un riesgo inter temporal, la existencia de obligaciones globales o colectivas y la responsabilidad individual de los Estados, son algunas de las cuestiones que se desarrollarán y que están pen-dientes de resolución judicial definitiva. Con carácter previo a estas cuestiones, resulta necesario analizar, aunque sea sumariamente, ciertas tendencias judiciales que ha provocado un activismo judicial en defensa de bienes jurídicos comunes en distintos ámbitos, incluyendo la actuación contra el cambio climático.

The progression of climate change has brought the issue of intergenerational justice further into focus. At the same time, there has been a global increase in climate litigation. Activists increasingly use litigation and fundamental and human rights as instruments to enforce their demands for intergenerational justice. This thesis, therefore, focuses on the question of whether climate litigation can transform intergenerational justice from a political norm into a human rights-based, justiciable right. Previous studies identified a human-rights turn in climate litigation. In addition, other studies revealed that climate activists are increasingly using intergenerational framing. However, the relationship between intergenerational justice and human rights is understudied. This thesis addresses the existing research gap. Utilizing a mechanism-based account, the legal framing and the legal interpretation of the Neubauer case, decided by the German Federal Constitutional Court are analyzed to show the transformation of intergenerational justice into a matter of human rights. Moreover, climate litigation cases at the ECtHR are analyzed whether they contain references to Neubauer to identify indicators for a precedent-setting effect upon the supranational human rights framework of ECHR. This thesis demonstrates the importance of climate litigation as a policy tool in national and international climate governance.

In a case study focused on the Torres Strait Islands, this Chapter will explore the use of climate litigation in Australia to protect Indigenous intellectual property, cultural heritage, and biodiversity. It will consider a human rights complaint to protect Indigenous intellectual property and traditional knowledge. A group called the Torres Strait Eight – consisting of eight Indigenous Torres Strait Islanders - has brought a case to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, accusing the Australian Government of violating human rights by not adequately engaging in climate mitigation or climate adaptation. The action has been supported by the region’s land and sea council Gur A Baradharaw Kod (GBK) and represented by lawyers with leading environmental law non-profit ClientEarth. The Torres Strait Eight accused the Commonwealth of breaching their fundamental rights to culture, life and freedom from arbitrary interference by failing to adequately address climate change. UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, Professor David Boyd, and his predecessor, Professor John Knox, have filed a joint amicus brief for the Torres Strait Islanders with the Human Rights Committee. The Australian Government has responded to the claim of the Torres Strait Eight, and has asked for the matter to be dismissed. This chapter will also consider the petition by the Torres Strait Eight for climate law reform by the Australian Government, and the prospects that this international complaint by the Torres Strait Eight will be transformed into domestic climate litigation.

The Uluru Statement from the Heart The Uluru Statement for the Heart recognizes the importance of culture and heritage to Australia’s First Nations: "We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country." The proposals in respect to an Indigenous voice, truth-telling, and a treaty would perhaps be helpful in the development of Indigenous rights and Indigenous intellectual property. This submission discusses the ways in which the recognition of an Indigenous voice would assist policy-making and practice respect of Indigenous rights and Indigenous intellectual property. In his book, Finding the Heart of the Nation, Thomas Mayor has explained that the establishment of an Indigenous Voice will improve policy-making in Australia: "The establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution is the priority reform – indeed it is now an urgent reform – because, unlike other racial or ethnic groups, law and policies are being made by governments specifically about us, without us, and too often to our detriment. A Voice is the first reform because it will start to address this political disempowerment, setting us on the path for the future reforms of Treaty and Truth." There should be an Indigenous Voice to Parliament – not merely an Indigenous voice to Government. Once the model for an Indigenous voice has been settled, there should be a referendum. Enabling legislation for the Indigenous Voice should be passed after a referendum has been held in the next term of Parliament. The membership model for the National Voice must provide for a diverse and inclusive representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The establishment of an Indigenous Voice should be followed by a Treaty and a truth-telling process.

I assess whether we can “rule” the future, with possible consequences for democratic legitimacy requirements. I build on comparisons with extra-territorial jurisdiction (time-space comparison) and retroactivity in the law (ruling the past vs. the future). In both cases, issues of feasibility are separated from questions of desirability. Possibilities of ruling the past and the future beyond the overlap come up against the impossibility of extra-generational enforcement. I then explore the significance of the overlap and its implications for the issue of intergenerational legitimacy. I conclude on lessons learnt for the debate on the “boundary” problem in democratic theory.

De kwestie van het wetenschappelijk bewijs is lange tijd een belemmering geweest om te voorkomen dat geschillen over klimaatkwesties van de grond kwamen. De complexiteit van het onderwerp en de onzekerheden waren ontmoedigende argumenten die onoverkomelijk leken1191.Vandaag zijn het echter de vorderingen in de klimaatwetenschap en vooral de consensus die uit belangrijke, alom bekende rapporten, straalt, die zoveel deuren openen in de rechtspraak.

Climate change litigation is expanding at fast speed throughout various jurisdictions around the world. Citizens are taking states’ lack of climate mitigation measures to courts, demanding that more has to be done on the climate crisis. More often now, litigants use human rights based argumentation which relies on international human rights law: human rights treaties, conventions, and precedent from human rights courts. According to litigants, states are therefore seen as both creating and prolonging this threat against the lives of their citizens, violating some of their most basic human rights, such as the right to life. Coupling these human rights obligations with climate treaties such as the Paris Agreement has proven effective when attempting to establish a causal connection between state emissions and climate change’s threat to citizen’s lives. This is sometimes characterized as a global ‘rights turn’ or a ‘greening’ of human rights. While a climate litigation case was denied to be brought up in Swedish courts in 2016, the Swedish government is now in 2021 finding itself tested again. Several children and youths in Sweden are currently suing the Swedish state, claiming that Sweden does not live up to its international human rights obligations. The claim is based on a human rights framing and is more similar to other ongoing or successful climate litigation cases at present time. While also facing a lawsuit as defendants in a case under the European Court of Human Rights, Sweden is now finding itself in the midst of this new phenomenon. Since, however, the issue of climate litigation in Swedish courts is quite new, the results of a new case in Sweden based on different grounds and on the precedent established in other successful cases in other similar jurisdictions, could be different. The overall purpose of this thesis is to shed light on the intentional human rights obligations that the Swedish state is bound by internationally which can be used in a climate

"This report is a summary of the article Pihl et al., (2021). 10 New Insights in Climate Science 2020 – a Horizon Scan, Global Sustainability, 4. https://doi.org/10.1017/sus.2021.2. All statements in this summary report are based on this article, except when referring to a specific source."

"This report is a summary of the article Pihl et al., (2021). 10 New Insights in Climate Science 2020 – a Horizon Scan, Global Sustainability, 4. https://doi.org/10.1017/sus.2021.2. All statements in this summary report are based on this article, except when referring to a specific source."

Non-technical summary: We summarize some of the past year’s most important findings within climate change-related research. New research has improved our understanding of Earth’s sensitivity to carbon dioxide, finds that permafrost thaw could release more carbon emissions than expected and that the uptake of carbon in tropical ecosystems is weakening. Adverse impacts on human society include increasing water shortages and impacts on mental health. Options for solutions emerge from rethinking economic models, rights-based litigation, strengthened governance systems and a new social contract. The disruption caused by COVID-19 could be seized as an opportunity for positive change, directing economic stimulus towards sustainable investments.

Climate litigation has become a permanent fixture in the climate law and policy landscape. Across jurisdictions, climate litigation takes different shapes, with actions based on administrative, civil, or criminal law. An increasing number of cases incorporate human rights, leading to courts inter alia imposing more onerous mitigation obligations on governments and private actors in light of human rights provisions. Several landmark cases in this domain have come from European jurisdictions and have been argued with reference to both the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the European Union's Charter of Fundamental Rights. An analysis of case law from the European Member States shows that the emerging picture is one of the Charter playing a secondary role to the ECHR. Based on this jurisprudential analysis, this article reflects on the future role of the Charter in climate litigation, and by extension, in shaping environmental human rights.

Climate change litigation is expanding at fast speed throughout various jurisdictions around the world. Citizens are taking states’ lack of climate mitigation measures to courts, demanding that more has to be done on the climate crisis. More often now, litigants use human rights based argumentation which relies on international human rights law: human rights treaties, conventions, and precedent from human rights courts. According to litigants, states are therefore seen as both creating and prolonging this threat against the lives of their citizens, violating some of their most basic human rights, such as the right to life. Coupling these human rights obligations with climate treaties such as the Paris Agreement has proven effective when attempting to establish a causal connection between state emissions and climate change’s threat to citizen’s lives. This is sometimes characterized as a global ‘rights turn’ or a ‘greening’ of human rights. While a climate litigation case was denied to be brought up in Swedish courts in 2016, the Swedish government is now in 2021 finding itself tested again. Several children and youths in Sweden are currently suing the Swedish state, claiming that Sweden does not live up to its international human rights obligations. The claim is based on a human rights framing and is more similar to other ongoing or successful climate litigation cases at present time. While also facing a lawsuit as defendants in a case under the European Court of Human Rights, Sweden is now finding itself in the midst of this new phenomenon. Since, however, the issue of climate litigation in Swedish courts is quite new, the results of a new case in Sweden based on different grounds and on the precedent established in other successful cases in other similar jurisdictions, could be different. The overall purpose of this thesis is to shed light on the intentional human rights obligations that the Swedish state is bound by internationally which can be used in a climate

Reforms of international trade and investment law and institutions are hampered by conflicting economic paradigms. For instance, utilitarian Anglo-Saxon neo-liberalism (e.g. promoting self-regulatory market forces privileging the homo economicus), constitutional European ordo-liberalism (e.g. protecting multilevel, constitutional rights and judicial remedies of EU citizens), and authoritarian state-capitalism (e.g. protecting totalitarian power monopolies of the communist party in China) pursue different legal and institutional designs of trade and investment agreements. Globalization and its transformation of national into transnational public goods (PGs) require extending constitutional and institutional economics to multilevel governance of transnational PGs in order to enhance the wealth of nations. Maintaining the worldwide legal and dispute settlement system of the World Trade Organization (WTO) - and interpreting its regional and national exception clauses broadly in order to reconcile diverse, national and regional institutions of economic integration and of ‘embedded liberalism’ - remains in the interest of all WTO member states.

Reforms of international trade and investment law and institutions are hampered by conflicting economic paradigms. For instance, utilitarian Anglo-Saxon neo-liberalism (e.g. promoting self-regulatory market forces privileging the homo economicus), constitutional European ordo-liberalism (e.g. protecting multilevel, constitutional rights and judicial remedies of EU citizens), and authoritarian state-capitalism (e.g. protecting totalitarian power monopolies of the communist party in China) pursue different legal and institutional designs of trade and investment agreements. Globalization and its transformation of national into transnational public goods (PGs) require extending constitutional and institutional economics to multilevel governance of transnational PGs in order to enhance the wealth of nations. Maintaining the worldwide legal and dispute settlement system of the World Trade Organization (WTO) - and interpreting its regional and national exception clauses broadly in order to reconcile diverse, national and regional institutions of economic integration and of ‘embedded liberalism’ - remains in the interest of all WTO member states.

Reforms of international trade and investment law and institutions are hampered by conflicting economic paradigms. For instance, utilitarian Anglo-Saxon neo-liberalism (e.g. promoting self-regulatory market forces privileging the homo economicus), constitutional European ordo-liberalism (e.g. protecting multilevel, constitutional rights and judicial remedies of EU citizens), and authoritarian state-capitalism (e.g. protecting totalitarian power monopolies of the communist party in China) pursue different legal and institutional designs of trade and investment agreements. Globalization and its transformation of national into transnational public goods (PGs) require extending constitutional and institutional economics to multilevel governance of transnational PGs in order to enhance the wealth of nations. Maintaining the worldwide legal and dispute settlement system of the World Trade Organization (WTO) - and interpreting its regional and national exception clauses broadly in order to reconcile diverse, national and regional institutions of economic integration and of ‘embedded liberalism’ - remains in the interest of all WTO member states.

Non-technical summary We summarize some of the past year's most important findings within climate change-related research. New research has improved our understanding of Earth's sensitivity to carbon dioxide, finds that permafrost thaw could release more carbon emissions than expected and that the uptake of carbon in tropical ecosystems is weakening. Adverse impacts on human society include increasing water shortages and impacts on mental health. Options for solutions emerge from rethinking economic models, rights-based litigation, strengthened governance systems and a new social contract. The disruption caused by COVID-19 could be seized as an opportunity for positive change, directing economic stimulus towards sustainable investments. Technical summary A synthesis is made of ten fields within climate science where there have been significant advances since mid-2019, through an expert elicitation process with broad disciplinary scope. Findings include: (1) a better understanding of equilibrium climate sensitivity; (2) abrupt thaw as an accelerator of carbon release from permafrost; (3) changes to global and regional land carbon sinks; (4) impacts of climate change on water crises, including equity perspectives; (5) adverse effects on mental health from climate change; (6) immediate effects on climate of the COVID-19 pandemic and requirements for recovery packages to deliver on the Paris Agreement; (7) suggested long-term changes to governance and a social contract to address climate change, learning from the current pandemic, (8) updated positive cost-benefit ratio and new perspectives on the potential for green growth in the short- A nd long-term perspective; (9) urban electrification as a strategy to move towards low-carbon energy systems and (10) rights-based litigation as an increasingly important method to address climate change, with recent clarifications on the legal standing and representation of future generations. Social media summary Stronger permafrost, QC 20211002

In a case study of the City of New York, this paper explores and analyses civic, municipal narratives about climate activism, local government, fossil fuel divestment and climate litigation. Part 1 considers the integral part of the City of New York in the establishment and the evolution of the C40 Network. Part 2 focuses upon the fossil fuel divestment decision of the City of New York, and its commitment to reinvestment in respect of renewable energy and climate solutions. Part 3 examines the unsuccessful climate litigation by the City of New York against a number of major oil companies for damage caused by climate change, and the prospects of a future appeal. This paper contends that the City of New York provides an exceptional example for other cities seeking to support climate action. (This article is part of a Special Issue on Climate Change and The Law)

The progress in the science of climate change have made it possible to identify and quantify in detail the extent to which the contribution of certain corporations to climate impacts affects the necessary conditions for the enjoyment of human rights. This implies that a specific group of corporations is becoming the target of various strategies of climate litigation before judicial and non-judicial mechanisms, in order to bear the cost of prevention and mitigation measures as well as to hold accountable for human rights violations associated with their climate impacts. This paper analyses, from a business and human rights perspective, the feasibility to file legal actions against corporations in their home States for their contribution to climate impacts in third States. In this regard, it argues that these particular kind of cases not only have the potential to influence in the climate actions of the major private greenhouse gas emitters, but also in the States’ regulatory activity, especially those in the Global North., Los avances en la ciencia del cambio climático han permitido identificar y cuantificar de manera cada vez más precisa en qué medida los impactos climáticos a los que contribuyen determinadas empresas afectan las condiciones necesarias para el disfrute de los derechos humanos. Esto implica que un determinado grupo de empresas (Carbon Majors) se está convirtiendo en el objeto de diversas estrategias de litigación climática ante instancias judiciales y extrajudiciales, con el fin de que asuman los costes de prevención y adaptación, así como para hacer efectiva su responsabilidad por las vulneraciones de derechos humanos causadas por sus impactos climáticos. El presente artículo analiza, desde la perspectiva de empresas y derechos humanos, la viabilidad de interponer acciones en contra de las empresas ante los tribunales de los Estados de origen por su contribución a los impactos climáticos verificados en terceros Estados. En este sentido, se argumenta que este tipo casos en particular no solo tiene el potencial de influir en las acciones climáticas de las principales empresas emisoras de gases de efecto invernadero, sino también en la actividad regulatoria de los Estados, especialmente del Norte Global.

The progress in the science of climate change have made it possible to identify and quantify in detail the extent to which the contribution of certain corporations to climate impacts affects the necessary conditions for the enjoyment of human rights. This implies that a specific group of corporations is becoming the target of various strategies of climate litigation before judicial and non-judicial mechanisms, in order to bear the cost of prevention and mitigation measures as well as to hold accountable for human rights violations associated with their climate impacts. This paper analyses, from a business and human rights perspective, the feasibility to file legal actions against corporations in their home States for their contribution to climate impacts in third States. In this regard, it argues that these particular kind of cases not only have the potential to influence in the climate actions of the major private greenhouse gas emitters, but also in the States’ regulatory activity, especially those in the Global North., Los avances en la ciencia del cambio climático han permitido identificar y cuantificar de manera cada vez más precisa en qué medida los impactos climáticos a los que contribuyen determinadas empresas afectan las condiciones necesarias para el disfrute de los derechos humanos. Esto implica que un determinado grupo de empresas (Carbon Majors) se está convirtiendo en el objeto de diversas estrategias de litigación climática ante instancias judiciales y extrajudiciales, con el fin de que asuman los costes de prevención y adaptación, así como para hacer efectiva su responsabilidad por las vulneraciones de derechos humanos causadas por sus impactos climáticos. El presente artículo analiza, desde la perspectiva de empresas y derechos humanos, la viabilidad de interponer acciones en contra de las empresas ante los tribunales de los Estados de origen por su contribución a los impactos climáticos verificados en terceros Estados. En este sentido, se argumenta que este tipo casos en particular no solo tiene el potencial de influir en las acciones climáticas de las principales empresas emisoras de gases de efecto invernadero, sino también en la actividad regulatoria de los Estados, especialmente del Norte Global.

From the revision of the jurisprudence seated by recent climatic disputes that occurred in the European environment and internationally, some weaknesses presented by the Spanish legal system on environmental responsibility, climate change and guarantees of the right to a healthy environment are analyzed. The relevance of Spain’s special vulnerability is highlighted, due to its geographical position, as relevant data to take into account in order to judicially determine the level of diligence required, the need to reconsider and reinterpret the scope of the concept of force majeure and necessary reforms in the procedural legislation to give entry to claims of condemnation of the Administration. It would be the judicial control of administrative inactivity in spaces in which administrative discretion is displaced by the expansion of the space of technical discretion that brings cause in the advances of science in climate change headquarters, A partir de la revisión de la jurisprudencia sentada por recientes litigios climáticos ocurridos en el entorno europeo y a nivel internacional, se analizan algunas debilidades que presenta el ordenamiento jurídico español sobre responsabilidad ambiental, cambio climático y garantías del derecho a un medio ambiente sano. Se destaca,la relevancia de la especial vulnerabilidad de España, por su posición geográfica, como dato relevante a tener en cuenta en orden a determinar judicialmente el nivel de diligencia exigible, la necesidad de reconsiderar y reinterpretar el alcance del concepto de fuerza mayor y las necesarias reformas en la legislación procesal para dar entrada a pretensiones de condena de hacer a la Administración. Se pone el acento en el control judicial de la inactividad administrativa en espacios en los que la discrecionalidad administrativa es desplazada por la ampliación del espectro de la discrecionalidad técnica que trae causa en los avances de la ciencia en sede de cambio climático

The progress in the science of climate change have made it possible to identify and quantify in detail the extent to which the contribution of certain corporations to climate impacts affects the necessary conditions for the enjoyment of human rights. This implies that a specific group of corporations is becoming the target of various strategies of climate litigation before judicial and non-judicial mechanisms, in order to bear the cost of prevention and mitigation measures as well as to hold accountable for human rights violations associated with their climate impacts. This paper analyses, from a business and human rights perspective, the feasibility to file legal actions against corporations in their home States for their contribution to climate impacts in third States. In this regard, it argues that these particular kind of cases not only have the potential to influence in the climate actions of the major private greenhouse gas emitters, but also in the States’ regulatory activity, especially those in the Global North., Los avances en la ciencia del cambio climático han permitido identificar y cuantificar de manera cada vez más precisa en qué medida los impactos climáticos a los que contribuyen determinadas empresas afectan las condiciones necesarias para el disfrute de los derechos humanos. Esto implica que un determinado grupo de empresas (Carbon Majors) se está convirtiendo en el objeto de diversas estrategias de litigación climática ante instancias judiciales y extrajudiciales, con el fin de que asuman los costes de prevención y adaptación, así como para hacer efectiva su responsabilidad por las vulneraciones de derechos humanos causadas por sus impactos climáticos. El presente artículo analiza, desde la perspectiva de empresas y derechos humanos, la viabilidad de interponer acciones en contra de las empresas ante los tribunales de los Estados de origen por su contribución a los impactos climáticos verificados en terceros Estados. En este sentido, se argumenta que este tipo casos en particular no solo tiene el potencial de influir en las acciones climáticas de las principales empresas emisoras de gases de efecto invernadero, sino también en la actividad regulatoria de los Estados, especialmente del Norte Global.

As well as outlining the structure and organisation of the collection, this introduction seeks to contextualise the debate over intellectual property and climate change. As a foundation to the collection, it provides an overview of the negotiation, agreement, and implementation of the Paris Agreement 2015. It offers a literature review in respect of international climate law, human rights, and technology transfer. The introduction highlights key research and scholarship on intellectual property and environmentally sound technologies. It outlines the relevance of various disciplines of intellectual property to the debate over climate change. In particular, it looks at the role and function of patent law, trademark law, consumer law, design law, copyright law, trade secrets, open licensing, as well as plant breeders’ rights, access to genetic resources, and Indigenous knowledge. It examines climate litigation in the field of intellectual property. The introduction considers the scope for law reform to ensure that intellectual property laws are better adapted to promote substantial and meaningful action in respect of climate change. It also explores how innovation law and policy may best promote climate justice and human rights.

This chapter considers the atmospheric trust litigation in the case of Nelson Kanuk v. State of Alaska over the climate inaction of the State of the Alaska. The dispute is a compelling case study in respect of constitutional law, the public trust doctrine, climate change, intergenerational justice, Indigenous rights, and Indigenous intellectual property. The new litigation between Esau Sinnok and the State of Alaska promises to further refine and clarify issues in respect of climate change, human rights, and Indigenous interests. Such climate litigation highlights larger international legal issues in respect of Indigenous peoples and climate change. There has been debate over Indigenous rights and climate change during the discussions in respect of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007, the Anchorage Declaration 2009, the Paris Agreement 2015, and the Bonn climate talks in 2017. In the future, no doubt Indigenous communities will seek to engage in climate litigation against governments and corporations in order to seek redress for climate injustice, as well as loss and damage.

This thesis investigates climate blame amongst a local population in the Northern Andes, Peru, and relates it to arguments on climate liability in German courtrooms. It does so on the backdrop of a climate lawsuit, which in 2017 was accepted by the Higher Regional Court in Hamm, Germany, filed by a Peruvian farmer against a German coal- and electricity company. Based on epistemological standpoints of cultural relativism and critical realism, and through ethnographic fieldwork in Huaraz, Peru and document analysis of the court case in Germany, it finds that notions of climate justice in these distinct places are accompanied and challenged by a range of other worldviews and principles. It describes in detail a range of perceptions of climate change causes within the local population, and finds that residence and livelihood strategies have an influence on perceptions of climate change. The worldviews and principles are contextualized and analysed through theories of climate justice, individual guilt, and collective responsibility which reveal that the majority of the local population blame themselves or their own community for climate change, which resembles arguments put forward by the coal mining company for exempting their climate liability. With the development of my own concept “diffuse responsibility”, I argue that the discourse of attributing blame for climate change to local livelihood management strategies creates guilt in individuals and conceals major emitters’ climate responsibility. However, notions of climate justice exist in both places as well, linked by the climate lawsuit from the Global South against a major emitter in the Global North. The thesis also offers a critique of the project of the lawsuit concerning community involvement, and a discussion of the potentials of climate litigation as a tool for climate justice., En 2017, la corte de Hamm, Alemania, se aceptó la demanda judicial presentada por un agricultor peruano contra una gran compañía alemana de carbón y electricidad RWE, acusando a la empresa de ser responsable de las consecuencias del cambio climático en su localidad: El derretimiento de glaciares y el riesgo de inundación desde un lago glacial. A raíz de esta acción, esta tesis investiga las percepciones de “responsabilidad” y “culpa” entre la población en Huaraz en los Andes en Perú y los comparan con los argumentos de responsabilidad climática emitidos por la corte Alemana. A través de un trabajo de campo etnográfico en Huaraz, Perú, y del análisis de documentos del caso judicial en Alemania, basado sobre puntos de vista epistemológicos del relativismo cultural y del realismo crítico, esta tesis señala que las nociones de justicia climática en estas distintas localidades están acompañadas y desafiadas por una gran variedad de cosmovisiones, principios y discursos. La tesis describe en detalle una gama de percepciones de la población local sobre las causas del cambio climático, y encuentra las diferentes estrategias de los medios de vida locales que influyen sobre las distintas percepciones que se tienen en cuanto al cambio climático. Las cosmovisiones y principios encontrados durante la investigación son contextualizadas y analizadas a través de teorías de justicia climática, de culpa individual, y de responsabilidad colectiva, revelando que la mayor parte de la población local se culpa a sí misma o a su propia comunidad por el cambio climático; lo cual a su vez se asemeja a los argumentos presentados por la empresa demandada RWE para eximir su responsabilidad climática. Con el desarrollo de mi propio concepto "responsabilidad difusa" pretendo mostrar que el discurso que atribuye la culpa del cambio climático a las gestiones de medios de vida locales genera culpa en los individuos de las poblaciones locales y oculta la responsabilidad climática de los emisores mayo

This thesis investigates climate blame amongst a local population in the Northern Andes, Peru, and relates it to arguments on climate liability in German courtrooms. It does so on the backdrop of a climate lawsuit, which in 2017 was accepted by the Higher Regional Court in Hamm, Germany, filed by a Peruvian farmer against a German coal- and electricity company. Based on epistemological standpoints of cultural relativism and critical realism, and through ethnographic fieldwork in Huaraz, Peru and document analysis of the court case in Germany, it finds that notions of climate justice in these distinct places are accompanied and challenged by a range of other worldviews and principles. It describes in detail a range of perceptions of climate change causes within the local population, and finds that residence and livelihood strategies have an influence on perceptions of climate change. The worldviews and principles are contextualized and analysed through theories of climate justice, individual guilt, and collective responsibility which reveal that the majority of the local population blame themselves or their own community for climate change, which resembles arguments put forward by the coal mining company for exempting their climate liability. With the development of my own concept “diffuse responsibility”, I argue that the discourse of attributing blame for climate change to local livelihood management strategies creates guilt in individuals and conceals major emitters’ climate responsibility. However, notions of climate justice exist in both places as well, linked by the climate lawsuit from the Global South against a major emitter in the Global North. The thesis also offers a critique of the project of the lawsuit concerning community involvement, and a discussion of the potentials of climate litigation as a tool for climate justice., En 2017, la corte de Hamm, Alemania, se aceptó la demanda judicial presentada por un agricultor peruano contra una gran compañía alemana de carbón y electricidad RWE, acusando a la empresa de ser responsable de las consecuencias del cambio climático en su localidad: El derretimiento de glaciares y el riesgo de inundación desde un lago glacial. A raíz de esta acción, esta tesis investiga las percepciones de “responsabilidad” y “culpa” entre la población en Huaraz en los Andes en Perú y los comparan con los argumentos de responsabilidad climática emitidos por la corte Alemana. A través de un trabajo de campo etnográfico en Huaraz, Perú, y del análisis de documentos del caso judicial en Alemania, basado sobre puntos de vista epistemológicos del relativismo cultural y del realismo crítico, esta tesis señala que las nociones de justicia climática en estas distintas localidades están acompañadas y desafiadas por una gran variedad de cosmovisiones, principios y discursos. La tesis describe en detalle una gama de percepciones de la población local sobre las causas del cambio climático, y encuentra las diferentes estrategias de los medios de vida locales que influyen sobre las distintas percepciones que se tienen en cuanto al cambio climático. Las cosmovisiones y principios encontrados durante la investigación son contextualizadas y analizadas a través de teorías de justicia climática, de culpa individual, y de responsabilidad colectiva, revelando que la mayor parte de la población local se culpa a sí misma o a su propia comunidad por el cambio climático; lo cual a su vez se asemeja a los argumentos presentados por la empresa demandada RWE para eximir su responsabilidad climática. Con el desarrollo de mi propio concepto "responsabilidad difusa" pretendo mostrar que el discurso que atribuye la culpa del cambio climático a las gestiones de medios de vida locales genera culpa en los individuos de las poblaciones locales y oculta la responsabilidad climática de los emisores mayo

On the fall of 2016, the slowly but steadily growing list of climate lawsuits around the world welcomed two new legal disputes in Sweden and Norway. Previously, the lack of ambition in the struggle against climate change had given way to a rise in environmental activism around the world, where disappointment regarding governments’ inability to act evolved in some instances into a legal strategy to challenge before the courts what was perceived as a renunciation by the State of its primal obligation to protect its citizens. The recently filed lawsuits in Sweden and Norway are, undeniably, a part of that trend, but they have some characteristic features, regarding both the scope of the claim and the extraterritorial dimension of the cases, that open up new possibilities for the legal analysis of the obligations of States concerning climate change. In this article, an effort is made to analyse those new perspectives in relation to the previous case law as well as their possible grounding in international law., Durante el otoño de 2016, sendas demandas en Suecia y Noruega se añadieron a una creciente lista de litigios judiciales alrededor del mundo relativos al cambio climático. Anteriormente, la falta de ambición en la lucha contra el cambio climático había provocado un aumento del activismo medioambiental en todo el globo, el cual, alimentado por una profunda decepción a causa de la incapacidad de los gobiernos para dar una respuesta adecuada a dicho desafío, alumbró, entre otras, una estrategia legal que perseguía denunciar ante los tribunales lo que a todas luces parecía una renuncia por parte de los Estados a la obligación primordial de proteger a su ciudadanía. Las recientes demandas presentadas en Suecia y Noruega pertenecen sin lugar a dudas a esta tendencia, pero manifiestan al mismo tiempo algunas características peculiares que apuntan nuevas e interesantes perspectivas para el análisis jurídico de las obligaciones de los Estados en materia de cambio climático, especialmente por lo que se refiere a la amplitud del objeto de la demanda y a la dimensión extraterritorial de dichos casos. En el presente artículo se pretenden analizar estas nuevas perspectivas situándolas en relación con sus precedentes más cercanos, así como su justificación desde la perspectiva del derecho internacional.

This paper argues that anti-age-discrimination law can be used in environmental litigation to combat environmental degradation, including climate inaction. This claim is premised on the possibility of a cohortal reading of anti-age-discrimination law, allowing to challenge discriminatory environmental degradation between generations. Such a cohortal reading received implicit legal support e.g. in the 2012 Commission v. Hungary ECJ case. We specify the personal and material scope conditions under which this strategy could be legally successful.

Cette contribution analyse, pour les États-Unis et la France, ce qu’implique la stratégie judiciaire comme instrument d’action et la posture du juge lorsqu’il est confronté à la désobéissance civile en matière climatique. Aux États-Unis, les discordances d’interprétation quant aux conditions du recours à la défense de nécessité climatique témoignent des tensions entre justice et politique. Si la question de la séparation des pouvoirs demeure prégnante, admettre la défense de nécessité climatique, puis la reconnaître applicable, permet d’acter au prétoire les réticences politiques à légiférer en matière de lutte contre le changement climatique, voire d’en dénoncer les défaillances. Néanmoins, lorsque le juge admet que l’action de désobéissance civile a comme motif légitime l’urgence climatique, sort-on du cadre de l’exigence de neutralité de la justice ? La « victoire » obtenue devant le juge, confortée par celui-ci, sert-elle alors à légitimer les actions de désobéissance civile ? La justice devient-elle un élément d’évaluation des politiques publiques ? En France, l’interprétation plus restrictive de l’état de nécessité pose également la question de savoir s’il est possible d’agir par nécessité lorsque l’action incriminée est par essence politique., This contribution analyses, using the examples of the United States and France, the implications of judicial strategy as an instrument of action and the posture of the judge when confronted with civil disobedience in climate issues. In the United States, the differences of interpretation regarding the conditions of recourse to the climate necessity defence demonstrate the tensions between justice and politics. While the issue of the separation of powers remains significant, admitting the climate necessity defence acknowledges the political reluctance to legislate against climate change in the courtroom, or even denounces its failings. Nevertheless, when the judge admits that the civil disobedience action has a legitimate motive in the climate emergency, does this go beyond the neutrality of justice? Does the “victory” obtained in front of the judge, reinforced by the judge, then serve to legitimise civil disobedience actions? Does justice become an element in the evaluation of public policies? In France, the more restrictive interpretation of the state of necessity also raises the question of whether it is possible to act out of necessity when the action incriminated is essentially political.