After Copenhagen - climate change litigation

摘要

What lies ahead, as the damage and injury caused and threatened by climate change becomes ever more apparent, is further litigation. It would appear beyond doubt that, as the science further develops and understanding improves, there will be litigation victories in tort and human rights law which will succeed in pinning responsibility on private and state actors. This prediction for tort law is a view reinforced by specialists in this field, who have confirmed that, although the circumstances and the facts may be new, tort based action against greenhouse gas emitters does not require any radical extension to basic and well established principles of English law. Human rights law, which has not been considered in depth here, provides yet further scope. However, it seems that such litigation success, if indeed it is a sign of collective failure to act soon enough, might, for many, be too late.