Climate Change Litigation in Europe: Regional, Comparative and Sectoral Perspectives

Climate change litigation is one of the most transformative phenomena of the current age. As the climate change crisis unfolds, lawsuits aimed at holding states and private actors accountable for tackling global warming are rising both before European domestic courts and regional courts, such as the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights. This book offers a comprehensive account of climate change litigation in Europe, both within and outside European Union borders. Climate Change Litigation in Europe addresses the multi-faceted phenomenon of climate change litigation from a threefold perspective. First, it analyses the developments of climate change litigation before supranational courts in Europe. Second, it provides a comparative analysis of existing climate change litigation cases across European jurisdictions. Finally, it unpacks sectoral and procedural legal regimes relevant to current and future climate change litigation. It is an essential reference for anyone interested in the latest developments in climate change litigation within Europe.

CAROLE BILLIET is Head of the Environmental Law Unit (ELU) at Hasselt University and a member of the Hasselt University Center for Environmental Studies (CMK). She lectures on environmental law, environmental policy, and principles of private and public law. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of Milieu- en Energierecht. MATTEO FERMEGLIA is Assistant Professor of Climate Law and Governance at Amsterdam University. During the development of this book, he was Assistant Professor of International and European Environmental Law and Post-Doctoral Assistant at Hasselt University. ALina HOLZHAUSEN is a Researcher in Environmental and Climate Change Law at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law and a PhD candidate at the University of Aberdeen, researching climate litigation and human rights. IVANO ALOGNA is the Research Leader in Environmental and Climate Change Law at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, Lecturer in Environmental Law and Associate Member of the Sorbonne Research Institute in International and European Law (IREDIES), University of Paris 1 Panthé on-Sorbonne.