Climate Change Litigation, Liability and Global Climate Governance – Can Judicial Policy-making Become a Game-changer?

Abstract

Climate change litigation, which is often perceived as an attempt to fill the regulatory gap left by the traditional decision-making legislative and executive branches, has grown intensively in recent years, becoming an important feature of climate governance in the US and a growing trend in some other jurisdictions. However, climate cases often involve a range of complex legal and non-legal issues, such as separation of powers, scientific uncertainty, causation and liability. How effective is the judiciary in climate policy-making and what impact will it have on global climate governance? The paper attempts to answer this question by discussing the role of the judiciary in contemporary climate governance and the specifics of regulatory approaches adopted by courts in dealing with climate cases.