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Remedies in international law to achieve climate justice

Almqvist, Tobias LU (2018) JURM02 20181
Department of Law
Faculty of Law
Abstract
Scientific findings now unequivocally show that the global average temperature is rising and that anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are largely responsible for this. While climate change is a global concern, it is also a concern of great injustice. Developed countries have generally contributed most to the climate changes, but the impacts will strike harder on those who have contributed least. These countries often also have insufficient resources to adapt to
climate changes.

In an attempt to find a remedy in international law to come to terms with this injustice, this thesis looks for relevant human rights law and principles of customary international law that may provide redress. As provisions in the climate regime are found... (More)
Scientific findings now unequivocally show that the global average temperature is rising and that anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are largely responsible for this. While climate change is a global concern, it is also a concern of great injustice. Developed countries have generally contributed most to the climate changes, but the impacts will strike harder on those who have contributed least. These countries often also have insufficient resources to adapt to
climate changes.

In an attempt to find a remedy in international law to come to terms with this injustice, this thesis looks for relevant human rights law and principles of customary international law that may provide redress. As provisions in the climate regime are found inadequate to protect
humans from "dangerous climate change", the thesis dig deeper into the principle of No-harm, and the relatively new approach of seeing climate change as a human rights issue.

The thesis finds that climate change-litigation face several challenges in establishing climate justice, the toughest one being to show causation. It also finds that both the No-harm rule and the Human Rights approach could provide a means of redress to the victims of climate
change damages, whereas the climate regime,in its current form, could not. The thesis lastly concludes that, rather than imposing further obligations on states, international courts should provide a supplement to the agreements within the climate regime. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Forskning visar nu entydigt att den globala genomsnittstemperaturen stiger och att antropogena växthusgasutsläpp i stor utsträckning är orsaken till detta. Medan klimatförändringen är en global angelägenhet, är det också en fråga om stor orättvisa. De utvecklade länderna har generellt sett bidragit mest till klimatförändringarna, men effekterna
kommer att bli värre för dem som har bidragit minst. Många av dessa länder har också otillräckliga resurser för att anpassa sig till klimatförändringar.

I ett försök att hitta rättsmedel i internationell rätt för att komma till rätta med denna orättvisa undersöker den här avhandlingen relevanta människorättslagar och principer i internationell sedvanerätt som kan vara till hjälp. Eftersom... (More)
Forskning visar nu entydigt att den globala genomsnittstemperaturen stiger och att antropogena växthusgasutsläpp i stor utsträckning är orsaken till detta. Medan klimatförändringen är en global angelägenhet, är det också en fråga om stor orättvisa. De utvecklade länderna har generellt sett bidragit mest till klimatförändringarna, men effekterna
kommer att bli värre för dem som har bidragit minst. Många av dessa länder har också otillräckliga resurser för att anpassa sig till klimatförändringar.

I ett försök att hitta rättsmedel i internationell rätt för att komma till rätta med denna orättvisa undersöker den här avhandlingen relevanta människorättslagar och principer i internationell sedvanerätt som kan vara till hjälp. Eftersom bestämmelserna i klimatregimen inte är
tillräckliga för att skydda människor från "farliga klimatförändringar", gräver uppsatsen djupare i principen om No-harm, och det relativt nya sättet att se klimatförändringar som en mänsklig rättighetsfråga.

Uppsatsen visar att klimatförändringsprocessande står inför flera utmaningar när det gäller att upprätta klimaträttvisa, den tuffaste är att visa orsakssamband. Den finner också att både No-harm-regeln och mänskliga rättigheter kan vara ett sätt att ersätta offer för
klimatförändringar, medan klimatregimen i sin nuvarande form inte verkar kunna det. Avhandlingen drar slutligen slutsatsen att internationella domstolar, i stället för att införa ytterligare förpliktelser för stater, bör komplettera avtalen inom klimatregimen. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Almqvist, Tobias LU
supervisor
organization
course
JURM02 20181
year
type
H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
subject
keywords
Public international law
language
English
id
8948024
date added to LUP
2018-06-21 12:31:39
date last changed
2018-06-21 12:31:39
@misc{8948024,
  abstract     = {{Scientific findings now unequivocally show that the global average temperature is rising and that anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are largely responsible for this. While climate change is a global concern, it is also a concern of great injustice. Developed countries have generally contributed most to the climate changes, but the impacts will strike harder on those who have contributed least. These countries often also have insufficient resources to adapt to
climate changes.

In an attempt to find a remedy in international law to come to terms with this injustice, this thesis looks for relevant human rights law and principles of customary international law that may provide redress. As provisions in the climate regime are found inadequate to protect
humans from "dangerous climate change", the thesis dig deeper into the principle of No-harm, and the relatively new approach of seeing climate change as a human rights issue.

The thesis finds that climate change-litigation face several challenges in establishing climate justice, the toughest one being to show causation. It also finds that both the No-harm rule and the Human Rights approach could provide a means of redress to the victims of climate
change damages, whereas the climate regime,in its current form, could not. The thesis lastly concludes that, rather than imposing further obligations on states, international courts should provide a supplement to the agreements within the climate regime.}},
  author       = {{Almqvist, Tobias}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Remedies in international law to achieve climate justice}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}