Local Approaches to Transnational Corporate Responsibility: Mapping the Role of Subnational Climate Change Litigation

Abstract:     
This piece explores the implications of subnational climate change litigation over coal-based energy. It begins by introducing the phenomenon of subnational climate change litigation, and locating it in broader context of subnational efforts to address climate change, transnational climate change litigation, and transnational adjudication in subnational tribunals. Using a law and geography lens, it then engages how this litigation connects to place. As demonstrated by cases in Minnesota (U.S.) and Victoria (Aus.), this type of litigation and the broader policy context in which it occurs reflect the multiscalar geography of the underlying problem, human-induced global climate change. The piece next discusses the implications of this geography for current understandings of subnational tribunals by examining these fora as spaces for transnational issues and as spaces for dialogue. It concludes with a reflection of the value of law and geography analysis in these cross-cutting contexts.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 17

Keywords: business, environment, corporate responsbility, state courts, geography, international, climate change, litigation

Accepted Paper Series