Climate Litigation: A New Frontier for Environmental Accountability

Abstract

Climate litigation has emerged as a transformative legal mechanism for addressing environmental accountability in the face of accelerating climate change. This paper examines the evolution of climate litigation from a nascent legal strategy to a sophisticated and rapidly expanding field that encompasses strategic litigation against both governmental and corporate actors. Through analysis of landmark cases including Urgenda Foundation v. State of the Netherlands and Milieudefensie v. Shell, this study demonstrates how climate litigation has redefined legal concepts of duty of care, corporate responsibility, and human rights obligations in the climate context. The research reveals that climate litigation serves multiple functions: enforcing existing climate commitments, establishing new legal precedents for accountability, and creating pressure for enhanced climate action where political will is insufficient. With over 2,900 cases filed globally as of 2024, climate litigation represents a paradigm shift toward judicial enforcement of climate obligations, fundamentally altering the landscape of environmental law and accountability mechanisms. The analysis concludes that climate litigation constitutes a new frontier that bridges traditional environmental law with human rights principles, creating unprecedented opportunities for holding both state and non-state actors accountable for their contributions to climate change.