If at First You Don't Succeed: Suing Corporations for Climate Change. (20th October 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ganguly, Geetanjali; Setzer, Joana; Heyvaert, Veerle
• Is Part Of: Oxford journal of legal studies. Volume 38:Number 4(2018:Winter)
• Page Start: 841
• Page End: 868
• Publication Date: 2018-10-20
• Subjects: private climate litigation -- Carbon Majors -- judicial interventions -- climate change causation -- corporate responsibility -- climate risk disclosure; Law -- Periodicals; Law reviews -- Periodicals; 340.05
• DOI: 10.1093/ojls/gqy029
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0143-6503

Abstract

Abstract: This article discusses the history and the future prospects of private climate litigation, which seeks to hold private entities legally accountable for climate change-related damage or threats of damage. It argues that, following failed attempts to clear judicial thresholds with regard to standing, proof of harm and causation, a new wave of private climate change lawsuits can be identified, and it is by no means doomed to failure. This is because climate change litigation takes place in a rapidly evolving scientific, discursive and constitutional context, which generates new opportunities for judges to rethink the interpretation of existing legal and evidentiary requirements and apply them in a way that will enhance the accountability of major private carbon producers. Moreover, even unsuccessful cases can contribute to articulating climate change as a legal and financial risk, which may help to guide climate change-responsive adjudication in the longer term.