Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 May 2020
This article examines the complex risks, costs and rewards of large-scale private law climate litigation – the climate litigation ‘holy grail’. It argues that while these cases undoubtedly have heroic aspects, their impacts can be complex or difficult to understand. It uses overlapping theories of metaphor and narrative in law, and theories of private law, to make some critical observations about these cases. Distilling some core reflections from the grail legends, the article argues that success in these cases requires a nuanced understanding of victory and defeat, and more careful thinking about the character, aims, and effect of these pieces of litigation. These stories inspire constant reflection as to what the metaphor of the ‘holy grail’ might mean in this context, and the role that these cases play in the development of a narrative about climate litigation.
This article was completed with generous support from a Max Weber Fellowship at the European University Institute. Earlier versions were discussed at the APCEL NUS-Yale Workshop in Climate Change Litigation, University of Singapore, 8 June 2018, and the Round Table on Climate Litigation, European University Institute, Fiesole (Italy), 23 Oct. 2018. I am grateful to everyone present for our engaging discussions. I also thank Doug Kysar, Joanne Scott, Maria Lee, Mario Pagano and Steven Vaughan for their insightful comments on earlier drafts, and the three anonymous reviewers for their detailed and helpful reviews.
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12 Although many of these distractions may indeed be initiations: see Markale, n. 6 above, Ch. 1.
13 Weston, n. 1 above, Ch. I.
14 Markale, n. 6 above, Ch. 1 (‘Percival hurls himself into this quest for the Grail with his head down in utter unconsciousness. But he still doesn't know which direction he should take’).
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24 Markale, n. 6 above, Ch. 2.
25 Ibid., Ch. 1.
26 Ibid., Ch. 1 (explaining that ‘Gawain is skillful, courteous, diplomatic, courageous’. However, in Malory's version he cannot see the Grail because of his ‘impure’ ways).
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31 I am grateful to Doug Kysar for this incisive description.
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35 Paris (France), 12 Dec. 2015, in force 4 Nov. 2016 available at: http://unfccc.int/paris_agreement/items/ 9485.php.
36 Art 2(1)(a) Paris Agreement.
37 Art. 4.1 Paris Agreement.
38 See fuller discussion below in Section 3.1.
39 Decision 1/CP.21, ‘Adoption of the Paris Agreement’ (13 Dec. 2015), UN Doc. FCCC/CP/2015/10/Add.1, para. 21.
40 IPCC, ‘Summary for Policymakers’, in Global Warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the Impacts of Global Warming of 1.5°C above Pre-Industrial Levels and Related Global Greenhouse Gas Emission Pathways, in the Context of Strengthening the Global Response to the Threat of Climate Change, Sustainable Development, and Efforts to Eradicate Poverty (IPCC, 2018).
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44 The Talanoa Dialogue was a cooperative process intended to take stock of collective efforts towards the joint goals of the agreement and to support the preparation of pledges, both under Art. 4 Paris Agreement: Lesniewska, F. & Siegele, L., ‘The Talanoa Dialogue: A Crucible to Spur Ambitious Global Climate Action to Stay Within the 1.5°C Limit’ (2018) 12(3) Carbon & Climate Law Review, pp. 41–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar; see also: https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-parisagreement/the-paris-agreement/2018-talanoa-dialogue-platform.
45 UN, ‘Decisions Adopted at the Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland’ (15 Dec. 2018), UN Doc. FCCC/CP/2018/10/Add.1, para 14, and generally Section III. The adoption of the Talanoa Dialogue was somewhat lukewarm: the COP decision only ‘[t]akes note of’ (para 35) and ‘[i]nvites Parties to consider’ (para 37) the ‘outcome, inputs and outputs’ of the Talanoa Dialogue.
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52 Ibid.
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55 Penalver, n. 53 above; Grossman, n. 53 above.
56 Brunnée et al., n. 53 above, p. 33.
57 Kysar, n. 53 above, p. 43 (‘[P]laintiffs seem best advised to identify presently realized injuries and to connect them to the ongoing nuisance of climate change, hoping to obtain in the process the holy grail of injunctive relief to address future harms [citation omitted]. Of course, as noted throughout this Part, that path faces numerous obstacles of its own’).
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59 Perhaps most significantly (although not exclusively) by James Thornton of ClientEarth in London, ref the author's private notes from ‘UCL Environmental Law and Policy Away Day’, 39 Essex Street Chambers, London (UK), 16 Feb. 2018. The potential of ‘holy grail’ cases was also discussed at the ‘Climate Change Law, Litigation and Governance’ event at Warwick University (UK), 18 Feb. 2018: see S. Adelman & S. Hossain, ‘Climate Change Law, Litigation and Governance – GNHRE’, Apr. 2018. The term is also used by Richard Lord QC, ref the author's notes from ‘Climate Change Liability, Some Issues’, a talk at Schroders, 2 Nov. 2012.
60 A good summary is provided in Butti, L., ‘The Tortuous Road to Liability: A Critical Survey on Climate Change Litigation in Europe and North America’ (2011) 12(3) Sustainable Development Law & Policy, pp. 32–66Google Scholar.
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62 Peel, J. & Osofsky, H.M., Climate Change Litigation (Cambridge University Press, 2015)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also McCormick, S. et al. , ‘Strategies in and Outcomes of Climate Change Litigation in the United States’ (2018) 8(3) Nature Climate Change, pp. 829–33CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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64 Ibid., p. 6 (citing, e.g., Nosek, G., ‘Climate Change Litigation and Narrative: How to Use Litigation to Tell Compelling Climate Stories’ (2018) 42(3) William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review, pp. 733–803Google Scholar). I would add Fisher, n. 46 above (who explores the narratives emerging from legal scholarship with a focus on climate cases).
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66 Williams, G., ‘The Aims of the Law of Tort’ (1951) 4(3) Current Legal Problems, pp. 137–76CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Similar arguments appear in tort scholarship and discussions of tort and environmental law. Particularly helpful is Robertson, A. & Wu, T.H., The Goals of Private Law (Hart, 2009)Google Scholar. See also Lee, M., ‘Tort, Regulation and Environmental Liability’ (2002) 22(3) Legal Studies, pp. 33–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Lowry, J. & Edmunds, R. (eds), Environmental Protection and the Common Law (Hart, 2000)Google Scholar. For an account of the interplay between private liability and insurance, in particular, refuting that any impact of private law is absorbed by insurance: Merkin, R. & Steele, J., Insurance and the Law of Obligations (Oxford University Press, 2013), pp. 3–16CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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72 Peel & Osofsky, n. 62 above, p. 124; also generally Little, n. 32 above.
73 Peel & Osofsky, ibid., p. 124.
74 Nosek, n. 64 above, p. 753.
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76 M. Hanne & R. Weisberg, ‘Introduction: Narrative and Metaphor in the Law’, in Hanne & Weisberg, n. 2 above, pp. 1–12.
77 Ibid.
78 Duncan, T. Hutchinson & N., ‘Defining and Describing What We Do: Doctrinal Legal Research’ (2012) 17(3) Deakin Law Review, pp. 83–119Google Scholar, at 107.
79 Of course, this is not the sole purpose of legal scholarship, or activism, and not to suggest that scholarly considerations are subservient to those of an instrumental nature; our job as scholars is not just polemical discussion, or commentary: see Fisher, E. et al. , ‘Maturity and Methodology: Starting a Debate about Environmental Law Scholarship’ (2009) 21(3) Journal of Environmental Law, pp. 213–50CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 224 and 230–1.
80 Nosek, n. 64 above.
81 Discussed in G. Olsen, ‘On Narrating and Troping the Law: The Conjoined Use of Narrative and Metaphor in Legal Culture’, in Hanne & Weisberg, n. 2 above, pp. 19–36, at 19.
82 Berger, L., ‘The Lady, or the Tiger? A Field Guide to Metaphor & Narrative’ (2010) 50(3) Washburn Law Journal, pp. 275–318Google Scholar, at 275.
83 Ibid.
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85 Thornburg, ibid.
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87 Del Mar, n. 2 above, Ch. 6 ‘Metaphors’, pp. 278–339; also Mar, M. Del, ‘Metaphor in International Law: Language, Imagination and Normative Inquiry’ (2017) 86(3) Nordic Journal of International Law, pp. 170–95Google Scholar.
88 Hanne & Weisberg, n. 76 above, p. 10.
89 L.L. Berger & K.M. Stanchi, ‘Gender Justice: The Role of Stories and Images’, in Hanne & Weisberg, n. 2 above, pp. 157–92, at 158.
90 Ibid.
91 Del Mar, n. 2 above, p. 308.
92 Del Mar, ibid., p. 281; Berger & Stanchi, n. 89 above, p. 174.
93 Berger & Stanchi, n. 89 above, p. 163.
94 Stichting Urgenda v. The State of the Netherlands (Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment), Rechtbank Den Haag [District Court of The Hague], C/09/456689/HA ZA 13-1396, 24 June 2015, ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2015:7196 (Urgenda I).
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97 Rome (Italy), 4 Nov. 1950, in force 3 Sept. 1953 (ECHR), available at http://www.echr.coe.int/pages/home. aspx?p=basictexts.
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99 Urgenda II, n. 96 above.
100 Ibid., p. 76.
101 Urgenda III, n. 98 above, para. 4.42.
102 As this article focuses on the instrumental effect of these cases, it is not necessary to say much about the appeal decision, although this has quite a distinct flavour from Urgenda I, specifically showing more distinct human rights reasoning. It is still a tort claim: see Minnerop, P., the, ‘Integrating “Duty of Care” under the European Convention on Human Rights and the Science and Law of Climate Change: The Decision of The Hague Court of Appeal in the Urgenda Case’ (2019) 37(3) Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law, pp. 149–79CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 152–3.
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106 Urgenda III, n. 98 above. This article was substantially completed prior to the Supreme Court decision on 20 Dec. 2019. Accordingly, I shall not discuss it in detail here but reference is made to it in various places.
107 M. Minnesma, ‘Hague Climate Change Verdict: “Not Just a Legal Process but a Process of Hope”’, The Guardian, 25 June 2015, available at: http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/jun/25/hague-climate-change-verdict-marjan-minnesma. See also R. Cox, Revolution Justified (Planet Prosperity Foundation, 2012).
108 Further details in the decision or Lin, J., ‘The First Successful Climate Negligence Case: A Comment on Urgenda Foundation v. The State of the Netherlands (Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment)’ (2015) 5(3) Climate Law, pp. 65–81CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Further details on EU climate ambition and effort sharing in Woerdman, E., Roggenkamp, M. & Holwerda, M., Essential EU Climate Law (Edward Elgar, 2015)Google Scholar, Chs 2 and 5.
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110 E.g., Friends of the Irish Environment v. The Government of Ireland [2019] IEHC 747 and Thomson v. The Minister for Climate Change Issues [2017] NZHC 733. There are also plans for an ‘Urgenda’ in Belgium (Klimaatzaak v. Kingdom of Belgium and Others, available at: http://www.klimaatzaak.eu/en) and France (Commune de Grande-Synthe v. France, available at: http://climatecasechart.com/non-us-case/commune-de-grande-synthe-v-france).
111 E.g., R (Plan B Earth and Others) v. SoS for BEIS [2018] EWHC 1892 (Admin).
112 N. 34 above. Heinrich Böhl Stiftung, ‘Climate Justice: Can the Courts Solve the Climate Crisis?’, Tipping Point Podcast 2/5, 30 Mar. 2017, https://www.boell.de/en/2017/03/30/tipping-point-25-climate-justice-can-courts-solve-climate-crisis.
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114 Setzer & Vanhala, n. 58 above, p. 4 (‘the Urgenda effect’).
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119 This decision is not exportable to English tort law: van Zeben, J., ‘Establishing a Governmental Duty of Care for Climate Change Mitigation: Will Urgenda Turn the Tide?’ (2015) 4(3) Transnational Environmental Law, pp. 339–57CrossRefGoogle Scholar, although see Kysar, R.H. Weaver & D.A., ‘Courting Disaster: Climate Change and the Adjudication of Catastrophe’ (2017) 93(3) Notre Dame Law Review, pp. 295–359Google Scholar, from 337.
120 Urgenda II, n. 96 above, p. 66.
121 Mayer, B., ‘The State of the Netherlands v. Urgenda Foundation: Ruling of the Court of Appeal of The Hague (9 October 2018)’ (2019) 8(3) Transnational Environmental Law, pp. 167–92CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 174–5.
122 Specifically, an ‘obligation to perform’ in respect of a 95% reduction by 2050, and a ‘best-efforts obligation’ in respect of a 49% reduction by 2030. This is helpfully discussed by the Advocate General in The State of the Netherlands (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy) and Stichting Urgenda, ECLI:NL:PHR:2019:1026, paras 4.32 and 5.68 (Urgenda, Advocate General).
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126 Lee, n. 66 above.
127 J. Murphy, ‘Noxious Emissions and Common Law Liability’, in Lowry & Edmunds, n. 66 above, pp. 52–74, at 53.
128 Ibid., p. 53.
129 Decision 1/CP.16, ‘The Cancún Agreements: Outcome of the Work of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative Action under the Convention’ (10–11 Dec. 2010), UN Doc. FCCC/CP/ 2010/7/Add.1.
130 Ibid., para. 1.2.4.
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134 Art. 2.1(a) Paris Agreement.
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136 Urgenda II, n. 96 above, paras 3.5 and 4.4.
137 Urgenda III, n. 98 above, para. 4.3.
138 IPCC, n. 40 above.
139 Art. 4.1 Paris Agreement.
140 The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has emphasized the increasing urgency of making sharper emissions reductions, and the ‘gap’ between the trajectory of global emissions and what was required to stay within safe levels of warming: see, most recently, A. Olhoff & J.M. Christensen, The Emissions Gap Report 2017: A UN Environment Synthesis Report (UNEP, 2017); see also Cox, n. 109 above, p. 155.
141 Urgenda II, n, 96 above, para. 47, also para. 72.
142 IPCC (S. Solomon et al., eds), Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge University Press, 2007). Throughout the Urgenda decisions the courts favoured the earlier 2007 reports, despite the 2014 report being available, which provided slightly better prospects for the 2°C goal, in short because most of the more ambitious scenarios relied on untested BECCS technologies, and as such allowed some overshoot, among other factors: see Urgenda III, n. 98 above, para. 2.19.
143 Urgenda III, ibid., from para. 2.14.
144 Urgenda II, n. 96 above, paras 3.9 and 7.5.
145 Discussed in Urgenda III, n. 98 above, from para. 4.31.
146 Urgenda, Advocate General, n. 122 above, para. 4.73.
147 Ibid., para 4.96.
148 Urgenda III, n. 98 above, paras 4.97–4.98. See also van Zeben, n. 119 above, pp. 352–6.
149 Urgenda II, n. 96 above, paras 67–69.
150 But see Verschuuren, J., ‘The State of the Netherlands v Urgenda Foundation: The Hague Court of Appeal Upholds Judgment Requiring the Netherlands to Further Reduce Its Greenhouse Gas Emissions’ (2019) 28(3) Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law, pp. 94–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 96; van Zeben, n. 119 above, p. 352; de Graaf & Jans, n. 115 above, p. 523; Bergkamp & Hanekamp, n. 117 above.
151 Urgenda III, n. 98 above, para. 4.100.
152 As discussed above, but see, e.g., Urgenda III, n. 98 above, para. 4.86; the introductory comments of the Court of Appeal in Urgenda II, n. 96 above; Urgenda, Advocate General, n. 122 above, from para. 5.70.
153 Lee, n. 133 above, p. 44.
154 Hutchinson & Duncan, n. 78 above, p. 107.
155 Lee, n. 133 above, p. 44.
156 Eliot, n. 28 above, Part IV.
157 The evolution of climate litigation through generations is explained in Abate, n. 3 above. Other significant first-generation ‘holy grail’ cases are American Electric Power Co v. Connecticut, 131 S.Ct. 2527 (2011) (a nuisance case focused on abatement), and Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corp, 696 F.3d 849 (9th Cir. 2012) (in which the claimants sought damages for considerable harm), both of which were dismissed on federal displacement grounds. I have chosen Comer because of its interesting procedural history, which provides more detail in its decisions.
158 See discussion above in Section 2.2.
159 It is beyond the scope of this article, but this does raise interesting questions about the possibilities for differing motivations between litigants and their representatives in environmental or climate justice cases. The claimants were represented by Luke Cole, a seasoned environmental justice attorney, who acknowledges the complexity in motivations and functions in his own role: Cole, L.W., ‘Macho Law Brains, Public Citizens, and Grassroots Activists: Three Models of Environmental Advocacy Community Initiatives’ (1994) 14(3) Virginia Environmental Law Journal, pp. 687–710Google Scholar. I am grateful to Doug Kysar for our discussion about this.
160 Comer v. Murphy Oil USA, 585 F.3d 855, 880 (5th Cir. 2009).
161 All loss and damage cases will present quite distinct causation problems: see discussion in the articles cited at n. 53 above. In addition to the question of what caused the hurricane, it would appear that decades-long poor management of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet shipping canal contributed to the scale of the devastation. Litigation brought on this basis has also been subject to mixed fortunes: see, however, In re Katrina Canal Breaches Consolidated Litigation (Robinson), 647 F. Supp. 2d 644 (E.D. La. 2009), which provides a good account of the management problems and how these contributed to the storm surge.
162 The history is summarized in Comer, n. 160 above, and in Woods, P.A., ‘Reversal by Recusal? Comer v. Murphy Oil U.S.A., Inc. and the Need for Mandatory Judicial Recusal Statements’ (2016) 13(3) University of New Hampshire Law Review, pp. 177–213Google Scholar; see also Weaver & Kysar, n. 119 above.
163 Woods, ibid.
164 Only three grounds are of relevance to this article. The defendants also succeeded on the first ground, res judicata, and limitation was in issue.
165 This was not the only aspect of the standing enquiry in issue. The injury had to be ‘fairly traceable’ to the defendants: Comer, n. 160 above, p. 23. The plaintiffs were also unlikely to meet a more stringent test of ‘proximate cause’ under Mississippi law: ‘The assertion that the defendants’ emissions combined over a period of decades or centuries with other natural and man-made gases to cause or strengthen a hurricane and damage personal property is precisely the type of remote, improbable, and extraordinary occurrence that is excluded from liability’: ibid., p. 35.
166 Comer, ibid., pp. 24–9, distinguishing Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 549 US 497 (2007). There was also a third, related point: that the plaintiff's action had been pre-empted by statute: ibid., pp. 30–2.
167 Grossman, n. 53 above, pp. 33–7.
168 As discussed in the literature cited at n. 53 above.
169 Markell & Ruhl, n. 49 above, p. 78.
170 Williams, n. 66 above, pp. 137 and 171–2.
171 Cane, n. 123 above, p. 429.
172 Ibid.
173 Williams, n. 66 above.
174 Williams, ibid., p. 170. Maybe this is obvious, but in complex multi-party actions the apportionment of liability among defendants and their insurers can be as contentious as primary liability. For instance, the broad trends in mesothelioma actions in English tort law range from securing compensation for the claimants (e.g., Fairchild v. Glenhaven Funeral Services Ltd [2002] UKHL 33) and struggles between defendants to reduce their portion of liability (e.g., Barker v. Corus (UK) Plc [2006] UKHL 20), to struggles between insurers to avoid bearing risk (Durham v. BAI (Run Off) Ltd [2012] UKSC 14).
175 Burkett, M., ‘Climate Justice and the Elusive Climate Tort’ (2011) 121 Yale Law Journal Online, pp. 115–20Google Scholar.
176 Wilensky, n. 47 above.
177 ‘Indeed, this prescribed order of decision making – the first decider under the Act is the expert administrative agency, the second, federal judges – is yet another reason to resist setting emissions standards by judicial decree under federal tort law’: Comer, n. 160 above, citing Connecticut, n. 157 above, p. 2539. See also Fisher, n. 46 above, pp. 246–8.
178 M. Burger & J. Gundlach, The Status of Climate Change Litigation: A Global Review (UNEP and Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, 2017), available at: http://columbiaclimatelaw.com/files/2017/05/Burger-Gundlach-2017-05-UN-Envt-CC-Litigation.pdf.
179 Kyoto (Japan), 11 Dec. 1997, in force 16 Feb. 2005, available at: http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php.
180 Fisher, n. 46 above, p. 240.
181 See discussion above and Ganguly, G., Setzer, J. & Heyvaert, V., ‘If at First You Don't Succeed: Suing Corporations for Climate Change’ (2018) 38(3) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, pp. 841–68CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
182 Heede, R., ‘Tracing Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide and Methane Emissions to Fossil Fuel and Cement Producers, 1854–2010’ (2014) 122(1–2) Climatic Change, pp. 229–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
183 Ibid.; Ekwurzel, B. et al. , ‘The Rise in Global Atmospheric CO2, Surface Temperature, and Sea Level from Emissions Traced to Major Carbon Producers’ (2017) 144(3) Climatic Change, pp. 579–90CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
184 Frumhoff, P.C., Oreskes, R. Heede & N., ‘The Climate Responsibilities of Industrial Carbon Producers’ (2015) 132(3) Climatic Change, pp. 157–71CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Shue, H., ‘Responsible for What? Carbon Producer CO2 Contributions and the Energy Transition’ (2017) 144(3) Climatic Change, pp. 591–6CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
185 Patton, S. Marjanac & L., ‘Extreme Weather Event Attribution Science and Climate Change Litigation: An Essential Step in the Causal Chain?’ (2018) 36(3) Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law, pp. 265–98Google Scholar, at 273–5; although see James, R.A. et al. , ‘Attribution: How Is It Relevant for Loss and Damage Policy and Practice?’, in Mechler, R. et al. (eds), Loss and Damage from Climate Change: Concepts, Methods and Policy Options (SpringerOpen, 2019), pp. 113–54CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
186 Although see Ganguly, Setzer & Heyvaert, n. 181 above, pp. 850–5 (in relation to carbon majors and corporates).
187 Most significantly by the Philippines: see Savaresi, A. & Hartmann, J., ‘The Impacts of Climate Change and Human Rights: Some Early Reflections on the Carbon Majors Inquiry’, in Lin, J. & Kysar, D. (eds), Climate Change Litigation in the Asia Pacific (Cambridge University Press, 2020 forthcoming)Google Scholar.
188 L. Paddison ‘Exxon, Shell and Other Carbon Producers Sued for Sea Level Rises in California’, The Guardian, 26 July 2017, available at: https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/26/california-communities-lawsuit-exxon-shell-climate-change-carbon-majors-sea-level-rises. Some complaints are available at: https://www.sheredling.com/press-room.
189 W. Frank, C. Bals & J. Grimm, ‘The Case of Huarez: First Climate Lawsuit on Loss and Damage against an Energy Company before German Courts’, in Mechler et al., n. 185 above, pp. 475–82.
190 A fairly recent summary and overview of these cases is available in M. Burger, ‘Update: Upcoming Hearings on Motions to Dismiss Climate Change Nuisance Cases in California and New York’, Climate Law Blog, 23 May 2018, available at: http://blogs.law.columbia.edu/climatechange/2018/05/23/update-upcoming-hearings-on-motions-to-dismiss-climate-change-nuisance-cases-in-california-and-new-york.
191 City of New York v. BP Plc, 325 F. Supp. 3d 466; for updates see: http://climatecasechart.com/case/city-new-york-v-bp-plc.
192 For a useful overview of the cases, and a discussion of how the claimants sought to avoid federal displacement through the use of state law, see Hester, T., ‘Climate Tort Federalism’ (2018) 13(3) FIU Law Review, pp. 79–101CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
193 City of Oakland v. BP Plc, 325 F. Supp. 3d 1017; for updates see: http://climatecasechart.com/case/people-state-california-v-bp-plc-oakland.
194 New York, n. 191 above. A further set of proceedings, County of San Mateo v. Chevron, is at the pleadings stage for a jurisdictional hearing; updates are available at: http://climatecasechart.com/case/county-san-mateo-v-chevron-corp.
195 Applying Connecticut v. American Electric Power Co. and Native Village of Kivalina v. Exxonmobil Corp., n. 157 above.
196 Distinguished from Massachusetts v. EPA, n. 166 above, on the basis that the EPA sought only to regulate six local coal-fired electricity plants, rather than a broader section of the industry, including international activities. In this respect, a third point in both decisions related to the international nature of the defendants’ activities.
197 See K. Boom, J.-A. Richards & S. Leonard, ‘Climate Justice: The International Momentum towards Climate Litigation’, Heinrich Böll Stiftung, 2016, p. 22.
198 This seems to be a feature of Global South climate litigation: see Peel, J. & Lin, J., ‘Transnational Climate Litigation: The Contribution of the Global South’ (2019) 113(3) American Journal of International Law, pp. 679–726CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 709–15.
199 Boom, Richards & Leonard, n. 197 above, p. 22.
200 Frank, Bals & Grimm, n. 189 above; for updates see: http://www.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute/litigation/lliuya-v-rwe.
201 Following the discussion in Abate, n. 3 above.
202 Ganguly, Setzer & Heyvaert, n. 181 above.
203 Also known to lawyers as precedence – for instance, issuing in the state courts to avoid displacement (whether this is ultimately successful), the more narrowly framed causes of action, the careful use of science, etc.
204 Acknowledged by Judge William Alsup in Oakland, n. 193 above.
205 One questions whether constraining the focus of the litigation to the ‘promotion of phony science’ would have found a more receptive audience: see remarks of Judge Alsup in Oakland, n. 193 above, para. 6.
206 Ganguly, Setzer & Heyvaert, n. 181 above, p. 866. In Oakland, n. 193 above, Judge Alsup goes so far as to suggest that a campaign of this nature could make the defendant’s business ‘unfeasible’; his concern is for the ‘public benefits’ of fossil fuels: ibid., para. 14.
207 Ibid.
208 Oakland, n. 193 above, per Judge Alsup, para. 8.
209 New York, n. 191 above, per Judge Keenan, para. 16.
210 Marshall, A.-M. & Sterett, S., ‘Legal Mobilization and Climate Change: The Role of Law in Wicked Problems’ (2019) 9(3) Oñati Socio-Legal Series, pp. 267–74CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 272.
211 Frank, Bals & Grimm, n. 189 above, p. 482.
212 Boom, Richards & Leonard, n. 197 above, p. 23.
213 Frank, Bals & Grimm, n. 189 above, pp. 480–1.
214 Vanhala, L. & Hestbaek, C., ‘Framing Loss and Damage in the UNFCCC Negotiations: The Struggle over Meaning and the Warsaw International Mechanism’ (2016) 16(3) Global Environmental Politics, pp. 111–29CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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217 Roberts, J.T. et al. , ‘How Will We Pay for Loss and Damage?’ (2017) 20(3) Ethics, Policy & Environment, pp. 208–26CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Page, E.A. & Heyward, C., ‘Compensating for Climate Change Loss and Damage’ (2017) 65(3) Political Studies, pp. 356–72CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Lyster, R., ‘A Fossil Fuel-Funded Climate Disaster Response Fund under the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage Associated with Climate Change Impacts’ (2015) 4(3) Transnational Environmental Law, pp. 125–51CrossRefGoogle Scholar (suggesting a tax on major emitters, which may be better on distribution but unlikely on consensus).
218 ‘Whilst paragraph 51 of CP/21 explicitly excludes liability, it is clear from the rhetoric surrounding the conference, not least from the “victim” states, that liability, ultimately, may be necessary if sufficient support is to be provided to such states to allow them to adequately handle the loss and damage that they will suffer’: Lees, E., ‘Responsibility and Liability for Climate Loss and Damage after Paris’ (2017) 17(3) Climate Policy, pp. 59–70CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 68; Mace & Verheyen, n. 217 above, pp. 205–6, and n. 72.
219 Shue, H., Climate Justice: Vulnerability and Protection (Oxford University Press, 2016), pp. 180–94Google Scholar.
220 Burkett, M., ‘Loss and Damage’ (2014) 4(1–2) Climate Law, pp. 119–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar; I. Wallimann-Helmer et al., ‘The Ethical Challenges in the Context of Loss and Damage’, in Mechler et al., n. 185 above, pp. 39–62, at 47–52.
221 See Okereke, C. & Coventry, P., ‘Climate Justice and the International Regime: Before, during, and after Paris’ (2016) 7(3) WIREs Climate Change, pp. 834–51CrossRefGoogle Scholar, from 844.
222 Ibid.
223 See Gardiner, S.M., ‘Climate Justice’, in Dryzek, J.S., Norgaard, R.B. & Schlosberg, D. (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society (online version, Oxford University Press, 2011)Google Scholar, Section 3.2 (for comments on broader forms of restitution).
224 Burkett, M., ‘Reading between the Red Lines: Loss and Damage and the Paris Outcome’ (2016) 6(1–2) Climate Law pp. 118–29CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 128.
225 Weston, n. 1 above, Ch. XII (arguing that many of the later stories were simply hero romances and had lost the meaning of the legend).
226 Grasso, M. & Vladimirova, K., ‘A Moral Analysis of Carbon Majors’ Role in Climate Change’ (2020) 29(3) Environmental Values, pp. 175–95CrossRefGoogle Scholar (conceptualizing this as a non-homogenous duty of reparation).
227 Ibid.