Book contents
- Climate Change Litigation in the Asia Pacific
- Climate Change Litigation in the Asia Pacific
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Theoretical Underpinnings and Implications of Climate Change Litigation
- Part II International Law and International Adjudication
- 3 Using Human Rights Law to Address the Impacts of Climate Change: Early Reflections on the Carbon Majors Inquiry
- 4 Litigating Human Rights Violations Related to the Adverse Effects of Climate Change in the Pacific Islands
- 5 The Potential for UNCLOS Climate Change Litigation to Achieve Effective Mitigation Outcomes
- 6 Investor-State Dispute Settlement in Renewable Energy: Friend or Foe to Climate Change?
- Part III Domestic Law and Domestic Adjudication
- Part IV China, Courts and Climate Change
- Index
3 - Using Human Rights Law to Address the Impacts of Climate Change: Early Reflections on the Carbon Majors Inquiry
from Part II - International Law and International Adjudication
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 November 2020
- Climate Change Litigation in the Asia Pacific
- Climate Change Litigation in the Asia Pacific
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Theoretical Underpinnings and Implications of Climate Change Litigation
- Part II International Law and International Adjudication
- 3 Using Human Rights Law to Address the Impacts of Climate Change: Early Reflections on the Carbon Majors Inquiry
- 4 Litigating Human Rights Violations Related to the Adverse Effects of Climate Change in the Pacific Islands
- 5 The Potential for UNCLOS Climate Change Litigation to Achieve Effective Mitigation Outcomes
- 6 Investor-State Dispute Settlement in Renewable Energy: Friend or Foe to Climate Change?
- Part III Domestic Law and Domestic Adjudication
- Part IV China, Courts and Climate Change
- Index
Summary
This chapter considers the role of human rights law in attributing responsibility for harm associated with the impacts of climate change. The suitability of human rights law to address harm caused by climate change depends upon whether a victim can substantiate a claim that a duty bearer has contributed to climate change, in such a way as to amount to a human rights violation. Qualifying the effects of climate change as human rights violations, however, poses technical obstacles concerning causality, retrospectivity, apportionment, as well as the provision of an adequate remedy. Yet, these obstacles are not insurmountable. As scientific knowledge improves, tracing causal connections between particular emissions and resulting harms is becoming less difficult. This chapter looks at the Carbon Majors petition, which is currently under investigation by the Human Rights Commission of the Philippines, to critically appraise the role of human rights law in solving complex questions associated with responsibility for the impacts of climate change.
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- Climate Change Litigation in the Asia Pacific , pp. 73 - 93Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020
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