Climate Change Litigation: Symposium Introduction

• Author: Lisa Vanhala,Chris Hilson
• Published date: 01 July 2013
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/lapo.12007
• Date: 01 July 2013

Climate Change Litigation:

Symposium Introduction

LISA VANHALA and CHRIS HILSON, Guest Editors

INTRODUCTION

It is clear that courts, and the litigants that prompt them to action, have an

increasingly important say in how greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and their

impacts should be regulated. Legal literature on climate change litigation

looks at the increasing role courts play in determining how GHG emissions

and their impacts should be regulated (Lin 2012; Lord et al. 2012; Peel 2011;

Carlarne 2010; Burns and Osofsky 2009). In the disciplines of geography and

political science, the literature on the multilevel nature of climate change

governance has flourished, with focus shifting away from the international

level towards regional, national, and subnational policy solutions (Bulkeley

and Betsill 2013; Peel, Godden, and Keenan 2012; Harrison and Sundstrom

2010; Giddens 2009; Osofsky 2009a). However, these literatures have often

spoken past one another. By looking across disciplinary divides to examine

nontraditional actors and policymakers—environmental activists, scholars,

experts, and national and international courts—we are able to see a picture

of climate change governance that is more multifaceted, contentious, and

nuanced than the existing literature on climate change law, politics, and

social movements alone would suggest (cf. Haines and Reichman 2008).

This symposium seeks to build bridges between different disciplinary

approaches to the issue of climate change governance and the role of courts.

It speaks to the following questions: What is climate change litigation? What

types of actions do different definitions include and what remains outside of

the scope of the term? Who is taking legal cases addressing issues of GHG

emissions, what are their motivations, what is the legal basis upon which

these actors rely, and what are the factors that inhibit or encourage their

success in the courtrooms? How are court decisions interpreted by litigants,

policymakers, and scholars?

Address correspondence to Lisa Vanhala, Department of Political Science/School of Public

Policy, University College London, The Rubin Building, Office 3.02, 29/30 Tavistock Square,

London, WC1H 9QU, UK. Telephone: +44 (0)79140 44003 20 7679 4984; E-mail: l.vanhala@

ucl.ac.uk.

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LAW & POLICY, Vol. 35, No. 3, July 2013 ISSN 0265–8240

© 2013 The Authors

Law & Policy © 2013 The University of Denver/Colorado Seminary