Comparative Law: Climate Litigation

Course Number: Law 920A

Course Credits: 2

This seminar will explore the emergence and evolution of climate litigation before international and regional courts and tribunals, with a particular emphasis on recent advisory opinions from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), as well as the pending advisory opinion before the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR). In addition, it will discuss the recent decisions on contentious cases from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). It will analyze these opinions and cases in the broader context of comparative environmental and climate law, using litigation as a lens through which to examine legal innovation, procedural challenges, and questions of enforceability. Students will study judicial reasoning, strategic litigation, and doctrinal developments across these international courts and tribunals, as well as select national courts in both the Global North and South. The course will also reflect on U.S. relevance and legal skepticism toward international adjudication.