The Right to a Healthy Environment and Climate Litigation: A Mutually Supportive Relation?

Abstract

The right to a healthy environment is recognised in the law of many states and by some regional treaties. Litigants all over the world have increasingly relied on this right to demand the protection of a host of environmental interests. In recent years, initiatives by the United Nations and by the Council of Europe have reignited the debate concerning the explicit recognition of the right to a healthy environment. This article contributes to this debate, by examining the evidence emerging from the use of the right to a healthy environment in climate litigation. The objective is that to establish the extent to which this right has furthered the prospects of applicants and the comparative advantages of relying on this right in litigation.

Keywords: climate change; human rights; litigation; right to a healthy environment