Climate Change on Trial: Mobilizing Human Rights to Accelerate Climate Action

Written by César Rodríguez-Garavito, this book tells the twenty-year socio-legal story of human rights-based climate (HRC) litigation. Based on an original database of the totality of HRC lawsuits around the world as well as interviews with leading actors and participant observation in the field, it explains the rise and global diffusion of HRC litigation as a form of climate governance.

The book combines insights from global governance, international law, climate policy, human rights, and legal mobilization theory in order to offer a sociolegal account of the actors, strategies, and norms that have emerged at the intersection of human rights and climate governance. By proposing a broad understanding of the impacts of legal mobilization that includes direct and indirect, material and symbolic effects, it documents the contributions and shortcomings of human rights litigation in addressing the climate emergency.

About the author

César Rodríguez-Garavito is Professor of Clinical Law and Chair of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law. He is the founding director of the Earth Rights Advocacy Clinic, the Future of Rights and Governance (FORGE) Program, the Climate Law Accelerator, and the More Than Human Rights (MOTH) project at NYU Law. Professor Rodríguez-Garavito is a human rights and environmental justice scholar and practitioner whose work focuses on global governance, climate change, socioeconomic rights, business and human rights, Indigenous peoples’ rights, and the human rights movement.

Programme

9:30am – 10:30am: The Making of a Field: Explaining the Rights Turn in Climate Litigation (Chapters 1 & 2)

• Laura Burgers (University of Amsterdam)
• Kelly Matheson (Our Children’s Trust)
• Elisa Morgera (UN Special Rapporteur on human rights & climate change)

11am – 12:30pm: The Shape of the Field: Issues, Venues, Actors, and Strategies (Chapter 3)

• Laura Duarte (European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights)
• Louise Fournier (Greenpeace International)
• Harj Narulla (Doughty Street Chambers) [online]
• Maud Sarlieve (University of Strathclyde)

2pm – 3:30pm: The Evolving Doctrines, Standards, and Jurisprudence of Rights-Based Climate Litigation (Chapter 4)

• Michelle Jonker-Argueta (Greenpeace International)
• Sarah Mead (Climate Litigation Network)
• Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh (University of Amsterdam

4pm – 5:30pm: Wrapping It All Up: Impacts and Conclusions (Chapters 5 & 6)

• Basak Cali (University of Oxford) [online]
• Christina Eckes (University of Amsterdam)
• Phillip Paiement (Tilburg University)