Climate Change Litigation

Wolfgang Kahl is Director of the Institute for German and European Administrative Law and Marc-Philippe Weller is Director of the Institute of Conflict of Laws, Comparative Law and International Business Law, both at Heidelberg University, Germany.

• Summary of ContentsINTRODUCTIONCLIMATE CHANGE AS A CHALLENGE FOR GLOBAL GOVERNANCE, COURTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS (Voigt)PART 1FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONSA. Liability for climate damages, sustainability and environmental justice (Kloepfer/Neugärtner) B. Climate damages and the ‘Polluter Pays’ Principle (Rehbinder) C. The role of courts in climate protection and the separation of powers (Payandeh) D. Climate change and duties to protect with regard to fundamental rights (Gross) PART 2PROCEDURAL ISSUES AND CONFLICT OF LAWSE. Arbitration proceedings (Lennarz)F. Conflicts of jurisdiction and the applicable law in domestic courts’ proceedings (Kieninger) PART 3STATE LIABILITY UNDER INTERNATIONAL AND EUROPEAN LAWG. Environmental liability in international law (Wolfrum)H. The international law and policy implications of climate change litigation: sustainable developments in international investment law and policy related to renewable energy, climate change mitigation and adaptation (Cordonier Segger/Arvan/Byron/Srinivas)I. The Paris Climate Agreement and liability issues (Franzius/Kling) J. Liability of EU Member States under EU law (Purnhagen/Saurer)PART 4CLIMATE CHANGE LITIGATION – NATIONAL REPORTSK. Climate change litigation in the United States (Farber) L. Climate change litigation in Canada (Jodoin/McGinn)M. Climate change litigation in Brazil (Wedy)N. Climate change litigation in Australia (Bell-James)O. Climate change litigation in the United Kingdom (Ohdedar/McNab)P. Climate change litigation in Italy (Butti) Q. Climate change litigation in France (Epstein/Deckert)R. Climate change litigation in the Netherlands – the Urgenda case and beyond (Van der Veen/De Graaf) S. Climate change litigation in Germany (Weller/Nasse/Nasse) PART 5LIABILITY FOR CLIMATE DAMAGES – GERMANY AS AN INTERNATIONAL PIONEER?T. Liability for climate damages under the German law of torts (Wagner/Arntz) U. Liability for climate change damages under the German Environmental Liability Act (Nitsch) V. Climate protection and compliance in German corporate law (Habersack/Ehrl) W. Investor-led action for climate and business sustainability (Duve/Hamama)X. Liability for climate damages under the Environmental Damage Act (Kahl/Stürmlinger) Y. The role of non-governmental organizations for climate change litigation (Verheyen/Pabsch) PART 6CONCLUSIONSLIABILITY FOR CLIMATE DAMAGES –SYNTHESIS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS (Kahl/Weller)