Litigating the climate between national and international regimes : judicial complementarity?

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to identify the architecture of justiciability of the right to a healthy environment, analysing the contribution of national and international regimes in climate litigation. It is argued that neither the former nor the latter alone can currently offer a fully implementable set of remedies to the catastrophic consequences of environmental degradation. In all the cases, collectiveness is a parameter that needs to be taken into consideration, and which is shaping the way most of successful environmental claims are framed. This calls for a reflection on what courts can contribute, and maybe also if they should contribute at all, in the absence of explicit political will in the form of a specific binding treaty. It is concluded that through the interaction between domestic and international courts we can envisage a full coverage of the rights involved.