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Lessons from a Distorted Metaphor: The Holy Grail of Climate Litigation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2020

Kim Bouwer*
Affiliation:
University of Exeter Law School (United Kingdom (UK)) Email: [email protected].

Abstract

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.

Type
Article
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

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.

References

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4 As suggested in Bouwer, K., ‘The Unsexy Future of Climate Change Litigation’ (2018) 30(3) Journal of Environmental Law, pp. 483506CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 496–9.

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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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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).

41 Rogelj, J. et al. , ‘Paris Agreement Climate Proposals Need a Boost to Keep Warming Well Below 2°C’ (2016) 534(3) Nature, pp. 631–39CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See fuller discussion and sources below in Section 3.1.

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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.

46 Fisher, E., ‘Climate Change Litigation, Obsession and Expertise: Reflecting on the Scholarly Response to Massachusetts v. EPA’ (2013) 35(3) Law & Policy, pp. 236–60CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 240–1.

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50 Fisher, n. 46 above, p. 242.

51 Bouwer, n. 4 above.

52 Ibid.

53 Grossman, D.A., ‘Warming Up to a Not-So-Radical Idea: Tort-Based Climate Change Litigation’ (2003) 28(3) Columbia Journal of Environmental Law, pp. 161Google Scholar; Hunter, D. & Salzman, J., ‘Negligence in the Air: The Duty of Care in Climate Change Litigation’ (2007) 155(3) University of Pennsylvania Law Review, pp. 1741–94Google Scholar; Penalver, E.M., ‘Acts of God or Toxic Torts: Applying Tort Principles to the Problem of Climate Change’ (1998) 38(3) Natural Resources Journal, pp. 563602Google Scholar; Kysar, D., ‘What Climate Change Can Do About Tort Law’ (2011) 41(3) Environmental Law Reporter, pp. 171Google Scholar (a lengthy list of articles discussing this issue is found in Kysar at note 3); Kaminskaite-Salters, G., ‘Climate Change Litigation in the UK: Its Feasibility and Prospects’, in Faure, M. & Peeters, M. (eds), Climate Change Liability (Edward Elgar, 2011), pp. 6589Google Scholar; Brunnée, J. et al. , ‘Overview of Legal Issues Relevant to Climate Change’, in Lord, R. et al. (eds), Climate Change Liability: Transnational Law and Practice (Cambridge University Press, 2011), pp. 2349CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

54 Bouwer, n. 4 above, pp. 499–501.

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’).

58 Blomquist, R.F., ‘Comparative Climate Change Torts’ (2012) 46(3) Valparaiso University Law Review, pp. 1053–75Google Scholar, at 1060; Bouwer, n. 4 above, pp. 484–5; Setzer, J. & Vanhala, L.C., ‘Climate Change Litigation: A Review of Research on Courts and Litigants in Climate Governance’ (2019) 10(3) WIREs Climate Change, e580, p. 3CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Thornton, J. & Covington, H., ‘Climate Change Before the Court’ (2016) 9(3) Nature Geoscience, pp. 35CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Noonan, D., ‘Imagining Different Futures through the Courts: A Social Movement Assessment of Existing and Potential New Approaches to Climate Change Litigation in Australia’ (2018) 37(3) University of Tasmania Law Review, pp 2669Google Scholar, at 45.

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. 3266Google Scholar.

61 Hsu, S.-L., ‘A Realistic Evaluation of Climate Change Litigation through the Lens of a Hypothetical Lawsuit’ (2008) 79(3) University of Colorado Law Review, pp. 701–57Google Scholar, at 714.

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.

63 Setzer & Vanhala, n. 58 above, pp. 5–6.

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. 733803Google Scholar). I would add Fisher, n. 46 above (who explores the narratives emerging from legal scholarship with a focus on climate cases).

65 Epstein, R.A., ‘Beware of Prods and Pleas: A Defense of the Conventional Views on Tort and Administrative Law in the Context of Global Warming’ (2011) 121 Yale Law Journal Online, pp. 317–33Google Scholar.

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. 3352CrossRefGoogle 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. 316CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

67 For a comprehensive discussion, see S. Hedley, ‘Looking Outward or Looking Inward? Obligations Scholarship in the Early 21st Century’, in Robertson & Wu, ibid, pp. 193–297.

68 Jong, E.R. de et al. , ‘Judge-made Risk Regulation and Tort Law: An Introduction’ (2018) 9(Special Issue 1) European Journal of Risk Regulation, pp. 613CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 7.

69 Halliday, S., Scott, C.D. & Ilan, J., ‘The Public Management of Liability Risks’ (2011) 31(3) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, pp. 527–50CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Trebilcock, D. Dewees & M., ‘The Efficacy of the Tort System and Its Alternatives: A Review of Empirical Evidence’ (1992) 30(3) Osgoode Hall Law Journal, pp. 57138Google Scholar; also Cardi, W.J., Yoon, R.D. Penfield & A.H., ‘Does Tort Law Deter Individuals? A Behavioral Science Study’ (2012) 9(3) Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, pp. 567603CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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71 Dewees & Trebilcock, n. 69 above, pp. 108–12 (finding deterrence is weak in environmental law). Faure, M.G., ‘Effectiveness of Environmental Law: What Does the Evidence Tell Us?’ (2012) 36(3) William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review, pp. 293336Google Scholar; Cardi, Penfield & Yoon, n. 69 above (finding no impact on behaviour).

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.

75 Ritchie, D.T., ‘The Centrality of Metaphor in Legal Analysis and Communication: An Introduction’ (2007) 58(3) Mercer Law Review, pp. 839–46Google Scholar, at 839.

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. 83119Google 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. 275318Google Scholar, at 275.

83 Ibid.

84 Olsen, n. 81 above; Thornburg, E.G., ‘Metaphors Matter: How Images of Battle, Sports and Sex Shape the Adversary System’ (1995) 10 Wisconsin Women's Law Journal, pp. 225–81Google Scholar.

85 Thornburg, ibid.

86 E.g., Del Mar, n. 2 above; Johnson, M.L., ‘Mind, Metaphor, Law’ (2007) 58(3) Mercer Law Review, pp. 839–68Google Scholar; Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos, A., ‘Flesh of the Law: Material Legal Metaphors’ (2016) 43(3) Journal of Law and Society, pp. 4565CrossRefGoogle Scholar. All have differing understandings of precisely what the cognitive process is that underlies this, and when and how this process happens. I will discuss Del Mar's work as I find it the most interesting. Resolving these differences is not necessary for the purposes of the article.

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).

95 The Netherlands had committed to this percentage reduction as part of the EU's climate policy, in terms of which the EU had given itself a 20% reduction target: see discussion in Peeters, M., ‘Urgenda Foundation and 886 Individuals v. The State of the Netherlands: The Dilemma of More Ambitious Greenhouse Gas Reduction Action by EU Member States’ (2016) 25(3) Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law, pp. 123–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 124–6.

96 Stichting Urgenda v. The State of the Netherlands (Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment), Gerechtshof Den Haag [The Hague Court of Appeal], C/09/456689/HA ZA 13-1396, 9 Oct. 2018, ECLI:NL:GHDHA:2018:2610, para. 4.3 (Urgenda II); Peeters, ibid., p. 124.

97 Rome (Italy), 4 Nov. 1950, in force 3 Sept. 1953 (ECHR), available at http://www.echr.coe.int/pages/home. aspx?p=basictexts.

98 Osofsky, J. Peel & H.M., ‘A Rights Turn in Climate Change Litigation?’ (2018) 7(3) Transnational Environmental Law, pp. 3767Google Scholar, at 52. The State of the Netherlands (Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment) v. Stichting Urgenda, Hoge Raad [Supreme Court], 20 Dec. 2019, ECLI:NL:HR:2019:2007, paras 4.42–4.52 (Urgenda III).

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, ‘IntegratingDuty 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.

103 Urgenda II, n. 96 above, paras 34–36.

104 Roy, S., ‘Urgenda II and its Discontents’ (2019) 13(3) Carbon & Climate Law Review, pp. 130–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 134.

105 Urgenda II, n. 96 above, paras 8.65, 8.78.

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. 6581CrossRefGoogle 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.

109 Cox, R., ‘A Climate Change Litigation Precedent: Urgenda Foundation v The State of the Netherlands’ (2016) 34(3) Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law, pp. 143–63CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 144; Cox explains the choice of a government over a polluter defendant: ibid., p. 146.

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.

113 See, e.g., Baxter, T., ‘Urgenda-Style Climate Litigation Has Promise in Australia’ (2017) 32(3) Australian Environment Review, pp. 7083Google Scholar.

114 Setzer & Vanhala, n. 58 above, p. 4 (‘the Urgenda effect’).

115 Lin, n. 108 above; Peeters, n. 95 above; Graaf, K. de & Jans, J., ‘The Urgenda Decision: Netherlands Liable for Role in Causing Dangerous Global Climate Change’ (2015) 27(3) Journal of Environmental Law, pp. 517–27CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

116 Roy, S., ‘Distributive Choices in Urgenda and EU Climate Law’, in Roggenkamp, M. & Banet, C. (eds), European Energy Law Report XI (Intersentia, 2017), pp. 4768CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Peeters, n. 95 above.

117 Loth, M.A., ‘The Civil Court as Risk Regulator: The Issue of its Legitimacy’ (2018) 9(Special Issue 1) European Journal of Risk Regulation, pp. 6678CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bergkamp, L. & Hanekamp, J.C., ‘Climate Change Litigation against States: The Perils of Court-made Climate Policies’ (2015) 24(3) European Energy and Environmental Law Review, pp. 102–14Google Scholar.

118 Cox, n. 109 above.

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. 295359Google 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).

123 Steele, J., ‘Assessing the Past: Tort Law and Environmental Risk’, in Jewell, T. & Steele, J. (eds), Law in Environmental Decision-Making: National, European, and International Perspectives (Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 107–38Google Scholar, at 109. See also Cane, P., ‘Using Tort Law to Enforce Environmental Regulations’ (2001) 41(3) Washburn Law Journal, pp. 427–68Google Scholar, at 451.

124 Steele, ibid., pp. 130–3.

125 K. Stanton & C. Willmore, ‘Tort and Environmental Pluralism’, in Lowry & Edmunds, n. 66 above, pp. 93–113, at 93–109.

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.

131 Chinkin, C.M., ‘The Challenge of Soft Law: Development and Change in International Law’ (1989) 38(3) International & Comparative Law Quarterly, pp. 850–66CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

132 Ibid. For a detailed discussion of the relationship between the Dutch, the EU, and international temperature targets and emissions reductions goals see Lin, n. 108 above, Sections 3 and 6; discussed by the Court of Appeal in Urgenda II, n. 96 above, pp. 57–8, 72.

133 Lee, M., ‘The Sources and Challenges of Norm Generation in Tort Law’ (2018) 9(Special Issue 1) European Journal of Risk Regulation, pp. 3447CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 44

134 Art. 2.1(a) Paris Agreement.

135 This is not the place for an in-depth discussion of the multilateral climate negotiations or of developments in climate science. Suffice to say that this goal was undemocratically adopted in Copenhagen in 2009: see Dimitrov, R.S., ‘Inside UN Climate Change Negotiations: The Copenhagen Conference’ (2010) 27(3) Review of Policy Research, pp. 795821CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and since 2011, with the negotiations in Durban, a formulation of ‘well-below 2°C’ had been de rigueur: see, e.g., Bodansky, D., Brunnée, J. & Rajamani, L., International Climate Change Law (Oxford University Press, 2017), pp. 114–6Google Scholar. Strong authoritative alternative views have confirmed that more stringent action is required: Hansen, J. et al. , ‘Assessing “Dangerous Climate Change”: Required Reduction of Carbon Emissions to Protect Young People, Future Generations and Nature’ (2013) 8 PLOS ONE, e81648CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed, available at: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0081648.

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. 687710Google 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. 177213Google 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. 79101CrossRefGoogle 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. 679726CrossRefGoogle 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.

215 Siegele, L., ‘Loss and Damage (Article 8)’, in Klein, D. et al. (eds), The Paris Agreement on Climate Change (Oxford University Press, 2017), pp. 224–38Google Scholar.

216 Verheyen, M. Mace & R., ‘Loss, Damage and Responsibility after COP21: All Options Open for the Paris Agreement’ (2016) 25(3) Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law, pp. 197214Google Scholar; Pekkarinen, V., Toussaint, P. & van Asselt, H., ‘Loss and Damage after Paris: Moving Beyond Rhetoric’ (2019) 13(3) Carbon & Climate Law Review, pp. 3149CrossRefGoogle Scholar. I am grateful to Patrick Toussaint for some very helpful discussions.

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. 5970CrossRefGoogle 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.