Whose Side Is the Law On? How the Courts Became a Climate Battleground

About this episode

The episode discusses the role of courts in climate change litigation and features insights from experts on significant legal cases worldwide.

"Even if you are small in this society, there is something you can do." Those are the words of Trixy Elle, a mother and a fisherwoman from the Philippines, and one of the claimants from the Odette case, named for the super typhoon she lived through. She may never win in court, but she says that isn’t the point. She is one of more than 100 claimants suing the energy giant Shell, demanding justice and accountability for the losses she has experienced as a result of climate change.  This week, Christiana Figueres sits down with Joana Setzer and Catherine Higham, two of the authors of the ninth annual Global Trends in Climate Change Litigation report from the Grantham Research Institute at LSE and the Sabin Center at Columbia Law School. And what they find is complex.  There have been cases that have captured the world’s attention. Last year’s ICJ advisory opinion on the obligations of states. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ landmark advisory opinion establishing a human right to a healthy climate. Or the 2015 case brought by the Urgenda Foundation, where a Dutch court told the government it had a legal duty to protect its citizens from climate change, and ordered…

People in this episode

Host: Christiana Figueres

Guests: Joana Setzer, Catherine Higham

Topics covered

• climate litigation
• climate justice
• legal accountability
• human rights
• climate change
• court cases

Keywords

• climate change
• litigation
• Shell
• human rights
• court cases
• climate justice
• ICJ
• Urgenda
• legal duty

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Shell, Grantham Research Institute, LSE, Sabin Center, Columbia Law School

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