In recent years, climate change and its adverse effects have consistently been escalating. It is one of the most pressing crises that humans and nature are facing (if not the foremost). All over the world, individuals and groups are seeking recourse to courts in order to compel governments and corporations to take effective action. Recent waves in climate litigation have certainly ‘rocked the boat’ in the best sense of the expression, but everything indicates that we are yet to experience the highest tide. This momentum for climate litigation is not only the context in which this Handbook was conceived but also one of the reasons why it will hopefully be relevant to many involved in this global fight.
The book – at its core – investigates the role of the judiciary in addressing climate change. It analyses the central legal arguments that are being brought to courts and the judicial reasoning applied by them.
Although the courts are increasingly expected to play a seminal role in global efforts to combat dangerous climate change, there is currently no dedicated resource available to assist the judiciary in responding to the myriad of legal challenges that tend to arise in the expanding landscape of climate change litigation.
Recognising the courts’ need for such a resource, The Cambridge Handbook on Climate Litigation aims to fill this gap. Drawing on emerging ‘best practice’ from around the world, it aims to provide a readily available, well-researched overview to help judges navigate the complex legal issues that frequently arise in this evolving field. It identifies those aspects of emerging ‘best practice’ that are most easily scalable across jurisdictions, drawing on landmark judgments as well as decisions that are less well-known but have the potential to inspire legal reasoning in future cases.
The Cambridge Handbook on Climate Litigation is ideally positioned to increase awareness and sensitivity among judges for climate change issues and to increase their legal climate change knowledge, capability, and expertise. It also aims at providing lawyers, scholars, negotiators, decision-makers, students, and environmental activists with one of the most thorough analyses of climate change litigation. The well-defined and comprehensive structure of the Handbook will guide readers through an extensive landscape of almost every aspect of the topic, including: climate change law in different jurisdictions, climate science, political doctrine, human rights, extraterritoriality, duty of care, the interlinkages with biodiversity and rights of nature, intergenerational equity, climate justice, and the future of climate litigation.
The Cambridge Handbook on Climate Litigation is a project of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL) and was carried out by WCEL’s Climate Change Law Specialist Group (CCLSG). WCEL is the largest global network worldwide of environmental lawyers, judges, scholars, and other legal professionals from cross-cutting disciplines. It aims to advance environmental law around the globe by providing specialised knowledge and assistance to strengthen the legal foundations of the conservation of nature and ecologically sustainable development through the conceptual advancement of environmental principles, norms, and laws, and by building the capacity of communities to benefit from the environmental rule of law.Footnote 1 The CCLSG is a specialist group of the WCEL which works on legal aspects of addressing climate change and its adverse impacts internationally and nationally.Footnote 2
WCEL also functions as the principal source of legal advice to the IUCN. The most prominent example of this capacity is the preparation by WCEL of all written statements by the IUCN in the advisory proceedings on climate change at the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea,Footnote 3 the Inter-American Court on Human Rights,Footnote 4 and the International Court of Justice.Footnote 5 IUCN was authorised by the respective courts to participate in all three proceedings, and WCEL members acted as the IUCN legal counsels and pleaded the cases before the courts.
It is with great pride that the IUCN WCEL sees this publication becoming a reality. It was through WCEL’s CCLSG, which I chaired from 2016 to 2021, that work on this project started. Its conclusion was made possible thanks to the support of WCEL’s CCLSG current chairs, Francesco Sindico and Fabiano de Andrade Correa.
Most importantly, our deepest thanks go to the two editors of the book – Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh and Sarah Mead – both members of the WCEL CCLSG, for their unwavering dedication and the profound diligence with which they carried out this book project in times of constantly evolving jurisprudence. It has been a joy and honour working with both of them and seeing the book moving from an idea to a powerful result. Many thanks go also to all the chapter authors involved. They are the brightest minds in the field of climate law, governance, and science, and it is a true privilege and honour having them on board. We owe them our sincerest gratitude for having contributed their time, energy, and expertise to bring this project to fruition.
It has been a massive piece of work for the editors Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh and Sarah Mead, together with the chapter authors, but the result speaks for itself. Our hope is that this Handbook serves not only as a guide but also as an inspiration for every reader that would like to engage and contribute to reverting climate change with the urgency it demands.
1 For more information, see ‘World Commission on Environmental Law’ (IUCN) <www.iucn.org/commissions/world-commission-environmental-law> accessed 21 April 2024.
2 For more information, see ‘IUCN WCEL Climate Change Law Specialist Group’ (IUCN) <www.iucn.org/our-union/commissions/group/iucn-wcel-climate-change-law-specialist-group> accessed 21 April 2024.
3 For more information, see International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, Request for an Advisory Opinion Submitted by the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law, Written Statement of the International Union on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources – World Commission on Environmental Law, Ocean Law Specialist Group <www.itlos.org/fileadmin/itlos/documents/cases/31/written_statements/2/C31-WS-2-2-IUCN.pdf> accessed 21 April 2024.
4 For more information, see Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Observations on the Request for an Advisory Opinion <www.corteidh.or.cr/observaciones_oc_new.cfm?lang=en&lang_oc=en&nId_oc=2634> accessed 21 April 2024.
5 For more information, see International Court of Justice, Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change <www.icj-cij.org/case/187> accessed 21 April 2024.
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