Future generations litigation and the rule of law: breaking new frontiers in climate law and governance

On 2 September we welcomed Dr Katalin Sulyok, Assistant Professor in International Law and Environmental Law, to speak with us. Katalin is based at the ELTE Law School in Hungary and Chief Legal Advisor, Office of the Ombudsman for Future Generations.

Her talk focused on the increasing trend of relying on the interests of future generations in climate litigation by litigants and the courts and the potential long-term implications thereof for environmental and climate governance. 

The first part of the talk traced the common legal architecture of future generations lawsuits to basic rule of law guarantees and showed how an inter-generationally sensitive judicial reinterpretation of these safeguards drives the bulk of domestic and international climate cases. The second part argued that such lawsuits can have a lasting impact on environmental and climate legislation as well as adjudication by exerting a decentralizing, diversifying, and restrictive force.

We recorded her presentation and you can view it here. Our thanks to Katalin!