Climate change litigation: the role of international law*

Abstract

The 13th Cambridge International Law Journal Conference, where this article was originally presented as a keynote speech, was dedicated to ‘The Intersection of Peace and Sustainability in International Law’. This article addresses the conference’s theme by analysing the role of international law in the burgeoning practice of climate change litigation. Specifically, it considers how international law has been used in litigation brought against States before national and international bodies. In so doing, the article provides an international law perspective on a topic that is immensely popular in current legal scholarship. It demonstrates that international law obligations and adjudication are playing an increasingly important role in this dynamic area of legal practice and reflects on possible future developments.