National judge and climate change: From justiciability to justice

Legal actions invoking the State's 'climate liability' have been steadily increasing over the past twenty years or so, at international level (such as cases brought before the International Court of Justice), regional level (before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights or the European Court of Human Rights), and at national level. Such cases, which until then had been based primarily on human rights violations, nevertheless faced several legal obstacles deemed insurmountable: dilution of causation, multiple parties responsible, the theory of the separation of powers, and so on. However, recent judgements handed down by national courts suggest that domestic law will make it possible to sanction and remedy state inaction. Both positivist and forward-looking, this essay first examines existing judgements and applications before national courts in order to identify their differences and similarities, before exploring the possibilities for similar legal remedies in Quebec and France. Justice in the service of the climate, or climate justice: this is the challenge addressed in this book.