Climate lawsuits have become a frequently chosen tool in the fight for more ambitious climate policies in recent years. In the extensive reporting on this topic, one aspect has so far been neglected: the differences between the jurisprudence in the Global South and the Global North. To address the related issues, Verfassungsblog, Völkerrechtsblog and the journal World Comparative Law (WCL) in cooperation with the Ecologic Institute are organizing an online symposium on the subject of "Comparative Climate Litigation in North-South Perspective".

What can the Global North learn from the Global South?

Through comparative analyses, the now numerous climate rulings and the strategies of the plaintiffs will be placed in relation to each other, and the different approaches of the jurisdiction in the Global South and North will be examined. Taking into account the different political, socio-economic, ecological and cultural contexts of individual regions, the symposium will focus in particular on the question of whether climate lawsuits are more successful under certain legal frameworks than under others. This gives rise to further questions which have not been adequately explored to date: Do certain legal levers work better than others? To what extent can national jurisprudence influence international climate protection legislation? And above all: What lessons can the North learn from the oftentimes innovative rulings regarding climate protection in the Global South? ...

Call for papers, online event and publication of selected contributions

The October 2021 Call for Papers was aimed at experts from various regions of the world, whose research contributions are currently being reviewed and subsequently released for comment among the participants. After review, the research papers will be published as blog posts on the homepages of Verfassungsblog and Völkerrechtsblog, starting on Monday, 21 March 2022. In the context of the symposium takes also place a Lunch Talk on the topic "The Constitutional Dimension of Climate Litigation" on 24 March 2022. Selected papers may be further developed and subsequently published in a special edition of the journal World Comparative Law (WCL).

The project was made possible through the kind support of the Stiftung Mercator.