The Future is Now: Climate Cases Before the ECtHR

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article evaluates the potential role of the European Court of Human Rights in adjudicating cases related to climate change. The Court is currently facing its first four climate applications, and addressing them is more than a routine process of applying existing case law. These cases speak to fundamental questions regarding the Court’s engagement with systemic problems, politically and technically challenging issues, and its own subsidiarity to state decision-making. Looking at recent environmental case law, this article identifies and discusses various possible futures for the Court’s approach to climate cases, including from admissibility, substantive, and remedial perspectives. It also considers the tendencies and factors influencing the Court’s potential response to climate claims. This includes its docket crisis, its evolution towards a ‘procedural turn’, and its approach to the balancing of competing interests and its selection of the appropriate level of scrutiny. We conclude that the Court must contribute to the search for a modus vivendi that permits competing interests to coexist and ensures a liveable future. This is not only a question of ensuring future enjoyment of human rights, but also of safeguarding the Court’s own ability to carry out its role and to thrive into the future.