Climate Change in Court: Overcoming Procedural Hurdles in Transboundary Environmental Cases

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Helen Keller ◽  
Abigail D Pershing
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Victim Status ◽  
European Court ◽  
Full Consideration

Abstract Climate change and its consequences will likely be the defining human rights challenge of the 21st Century. The European Court of Human Rights is well-placed to help shape the response to this looming crisis. Indeed, the first four applications concerning climate change have recently been filed before the Court. However, the applicants in these pending cases, as well as potential applicants in any future climate cases, will have to overcome significant procedural hurdles to ensure that the Court will hear their arguments on the merits. This article discusses some of the most significant issues that applicants seeking to bring climate cases will face, which include proving exhaustion of domestic remedies, establishing that the applicants have victim status, and demonstrating that the applicants face a significant disadvantage. This article considers how the Court can ensure that these admissibility hurdles do not preclude climate cases from receiving full consideration on the merits.

scholarly journals Swiss Climate Change Law

2021 ◽  
pp. 17-47
Author(s):  
Julia Hänni ◽  
Tienmu Ma
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Climate ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
European Court ◽  
Recent Innovation ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Reduce Emissions

AbstractThis chapter explores the relationship between Swiss climate change law and the international and European climate change regimes. At the international level, the chapter reviews the three major international agreements regulating the field: the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC, and the Paris Agreement. And at the national and regional levels, the chapter briefly describes the CO2 Act—often considered the heart of Swiss climate change policy—and questions whether it will prove effective in achieving its explicitly stated emissions reduction targets. The chapter then reviews the most significant recent innovation in the evolution of Swiss climate change policy: joining the Emissions Trading System (ETS) established by the European Union. Due to long-standing problems afflicting the ETS, the authors raise doubts about whether Switzerland’s joining the scheme will lead to meaningful reductions in the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. As an alternative to an ETS-centric approach, the authors refer to an approach centered on human rights. Drawing on the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the major international climate change agreements, other sources of international law, and the recent Urgenda decision of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, the authors argue that under the human rights approach, Switzerland would be obligated to take stronger measures to reduce emissions than it could hope to achieve through the ETS and the CO2 Act alone.

scholarly journals The Impact of Possible Decadal-Scale Cold Waves on Viticulture over Europe in a Context of Global Warming

Agronomy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Sgubin ◽  
Didier Swingedouw ◽  
Iñaki García de Cortázar-Atauri ◽  
Nathalie Ollat ◽  
Cornelis van Leeuwen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Cold Waves ◽  
Decadal Scale ◽  
Ensemble Mean ◽  
The Impact

A comprehensive analysis of all the possible impacts of future climate change is crucial for strategic plans of adaptation for viticulture. Assessments of future climate are generally based on the ensemble mean of state-of-the-art climate model projections, which prefigures a gradual warming over Europe for the 21st century. However, a few models project single or multiple O(10) year temperature drops over the North Atlantic due to a collapsing subpolar gyre (SPG) oceanic convection. The occurrence of these decadal-scale “cold waves” may have strong repercussions over the continent, yet their actual impact is ruled out in a multi-model ensemble mean analysis. Here, we investigate these potential implications for viticulture over Europe by coupling dynamical downscaled EUR-CORDEX temperature projections for the representative concentration pathways (RCP)4.5 scenario from seven different climate models—including CSIRO-Mk3-6-0 exhibiting a SPG convection collapse—with three different phenological models simulating the main developmental stages of the grapevine. The 21st century temperature increase projected by all the models leads to an anticipation of all the developmental stages of the grapevine, shifting the optimal region for a given grapevine variety northward, and making climatic conditions suitable for high-quality wine production in some European regions that are currently not. However, in the CSIRO-Mk3-6-0 model, this long-term warming trend is suddenly interrupted by decadal-scale cold waves, abruptly pushing the suitability pattern back to conditions that are very similar to the present. These findings are crucial for winemakers in the evaluation of proper strategies to face climate change, and, overall, provide additional information for long-term plans of adaptation, which, so far, are mainly oriented towards the possibility of continuous warming conditions.

scholarly journals Human rights v. Insufficient climate action: The Urgenda case

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 112-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Leijten
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Case Law ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Court Of Appeals ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
European Court ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Ex Post Facto ◽  
Rights Issue

Climate change is a human rights issue, but what exactly can courts require States to do in this regard? This contribution discusses the Dutch Urgenda case, in which the Court of Appeals recently found a violation of Articles 2 (right to life) and 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights and ordered the State to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2020. Looking at the case law of the European Court of Human Rights on environmental issues, as well as the nature of positive obligations, it appears that Urgenda involves a more abstract situation and a more precise positive obligation than is usually the case in human rights adjudication. Because ex post facto complaints are no solution, and in light of the growing number of Urgenda-like cases pending before (international) courts, efforts need to be made to ensure that human rights `fit' climate change cases and courts can provide effective protection in this regard.

Climate Change Litigation and the European Court of Human Rights - A Strategic Next Step?

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 331-342
Author(s):  
Therese Karlsson Niska
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Standard Of Care ◽  
Case Law ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Climate Protection ◽  
National Courts ◽  
European Court ◽  
Senior Women ◽  
Combat Climate Change

Abstract The purpose of the article is to analyse if bringing a case before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) could be impactful in forcing greater climate change action. Part of this analysis is built upon the review of two climate change cases brought before national courts, since they have different outcomes even though both use the fundamental human rights of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as their legal bases. The cases are the Urgenda Foundation v. Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Union of Swiss Senior Women for Climate Protection v. Swiss Federal Council and Others. The Urgenda case establishes a link between the rights in article 2 and 8 ECHR, and climate change, which creates a positive obligation for a state to protect these rights by acting to combat climate change. The Swiss Climate Protection case, however, is dismissed. Both cases highlight some of the challenges regarding climate change in relation to the fundamental human rights of the ECHR. Judgments by the ECtHR are final, and the formally and informally binding nature of case law from the court is argued to indicate the possibility of a powerful tool in relation to climate change action since 47 states will be affected by the court’s decisions. However, if a case brought before the ECtHR has an unfavourable outcome in relation to forcing greater governmental action in combating climate change, this may also have greater consequences than such an outcome of a domestic challenge, since it will set a minimum standard of care, or completely exclude climate change in relation to human rights. The article argues that it should be considered worth the identified risks to bring a claim before the ECtHR even though it is uncertain if the evolving nature of the charter is ready to establish obligations in relation to climate change, due to the unprecedented and severe threat that climate change constitutes.

The Potential of Application of the ECHR in Climate Change Related Cases

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 197-208
Author(s):  
Przemysław Siwior
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Potential Application ◽  
Case Law ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
Adverse Impacts ◽  
European Court

Abstract The purpose of this article is to analyse the existing case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in environmental cases in order to determine whether the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) ensures protection in cases related to climate change and its adverse impacts. Due to the fact that to date the ECtHR has not yet ruled on the issue of climate change, the article analyses environmental cases addressed by the ECtHR based on article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) and article 2 (right to life) of the ECHR taking into account potential application of their conclusions to climate change.

scholarly journals The development of protections for the right to marry guaranteed by Article 12 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms

2021 ◽  
Vol 93 (2) ◽  
pp. 510-525
Author(s):  
Jovana Vojvodić
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
21St Century ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Marriage And Family ◽  
International Understanding ◽  
European Court ◽  
Fundamental Freedoms ◽  
Liberal Attitude ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
The Right

Starting from the 21st century, the European Court of Human Rights has changed the approach regarding the interpretation of the right to marry protected under Article 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The new liberal attitude towards the content of this right has opened up opportunities for new categories of persons to enter into marriage and start a family. The question arises whether the European Court of Human Rights will continue with this trend of interpretation and what consequences that could cause for the international understanding of marriage and family.

Sociocultural Rights and the Media: International Developments 2017

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-62
Author(s):  
Mariya Riekkinen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Hate Crime ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Human Rights Organizations ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Eu

This article provides an overview of international developments in the area of the sociocultural and economic rights of European minorities, including access to and portrayal in the media, throughout 2017. The year brought several significant advancements in these areas. The adoption of the 2017 UNESCO Declaration of Ethical Principles in Relation to Climate Change acknowledged the role of indigenous knowledge in counteracting the challenge of climate change. Protection and integration of Roma was addressed in the activities of the human rights organizations and bodies at the level of the UN, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the EU. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered a series of significant judgments specifying the factors that would allow a court to classify an act as a hate crime. The ECtHR also instituted procedural rules protecting people from violence based on ethnic and racial motives.

scholarly journals Disturbance legacies have a stronger effect on future carbon exchange than climate in a temperate forest landscape

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominik Thom ◽  
Werner Rammer ◽  
Rita Garstenauer ◽  
Rupert Seidl
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Temperate Forest ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Natural Disturbance ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Forest Landscape ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
Forest C

Abstract. Forest ecosystems play an important role in the global climate system, and are thus intensively discussed in the context of climate change mitigation. Over the past decades temperate forests were a carbon (C) sink to the atmosphere. However, it remains unclear to which degree this C uptake is driven by a recovery from past disturbances vs. ongoing climate warming, inducing high uncertainty regarding the future temperate forest C sink. Here our objectives were (i) to investigate legacies within the natural disturbance regime by empirically analyzing two disturbance episodes affecting the same landscape 90 years apart, and (ii) to unravel the effects of past disturbances and future climate on 21st century forest C uptake by means of simulation modelling. We collected historical data from archives to reconstruct vegetation and disturbance history of a forest landscape in the Austrian Alps from 1905 to 2013. The effect of past legacies and future climate was determined by simulating 32 different combinations of past disturbances (including natural disturbances and management) and future climate scenarios. We found only moderate spatial overlap between two episodes of wind and bark beetle disturbance affecting the landscape in the early 20th and 21st century, respectively. The future forest C sink was driven by past disturbances, while climate change reduced forest C uptake. Historic management (and its cessation) had a considerably stronger influence on the future C balance than the natural disturbance episodes of the past. We conclude that neglecting disturbance legacies can substantially bias assessments of future forest dynamics.

scholarly journals Future climate change hotspots under different 21st century warming scenarios

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuewei Fan ◽  
Chiyuan Miao ◽  
Qingyun Duan ◽  
Chenwei Shen ◽  
Yi Wu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Future Climate Change
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