Bringing Climate Change to Court – Questions of Justice and Democracy

On 16 June, we held a roundtable discussion at Spui25 about climate change, law and matters of democracy. Three speakers covered topics including:

•Can domestic courts deliver global climate justice?
•What tensions arise between democratic decision-making and international climate demands?
•How can litigation shape the future of climate action?

Here is a recording of the event:

Speakers

Peter van Dam is professor of Dutch history at the University of Amsterdam. His research focuses on the history of civic initiative and activism as well as the history of historiography.

Christina Eckes is professor of European law at the University of Amsterdam and director of the Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance (ACELG). Her current research interest is strategic climate litigation’s direct and indirect consequences for the democratic process in the multi-layered legal landscape of Europe.

Phillip Paiement is Professor of Law & Governance in the Anthropocene at Tilburg Law School. Since September 2022 he is the Principal Investigator in the ERC Starting Grant funded project ‘TransLitigate: The Agency of Transnational Strategic Litigators in Global Environmental Governance’.

Melanie Jean Murcott (moderator) is an Associate Professor at the University of Cape Town. Her research recognises that a functioning and flourishing environment creates the conditions in which social justice can occur.

The event was co-organised with ENLENS.