Human Rights: The Global South's Route to Climate Litigation

After twenty-five years of climate litigation dominated by cases in the United States, Australia, and other jurisdictions in the Global North, a second wave of lawsuits arose in the mid-2010s that prominently feature cases filed in countries of the Global South. I argue that the use of human rights norms and strategies characterizes the “Global South route” to climate litigation, one that is firmly rooted in the trajectory of human rights adjudication and litigation in key Southern countries over the last three decades. I posit that, in order to understand the present and the future of this route, it is essential to (1) track its origins and features to the trajectory of “Global South constitutionalism” over the last three decades, especially litigation around socioeconomic rights, and (2) unpack the category of “Global South” countries, in order to avoid overgeneralizations and to identify the types of countries that are likely to see most climate litigation and court decisions. I close by suggesting that, in light of the planetary and urgent nature of the climate challenge, future research and advocacy should explore transnational forms of litigation that cut across the North-South divide and pay systematic attention to the impact of climate litigation.