Bringing Climate Change to Strasbourg. The Convention and Healthy Environment Claims

Abstract

Abstract Climate change profoundly impacts all aspects of human life, including health. International fora and nation States recognise the importance of urgently cutting greenhouse gas emissions as a primary cause of global warming. States’ commitment to alter climate change has resulted in several treaty documents referring explicitly to human rights obligations. But what exactly are States’ obligations under climate change treaty law and other human rights treaties? And what is the judiciary’s role when confronted with the right to health violations and systemic deficiencies relating to climate change? Can climate change litigation give individual citizens a remedy to right to health violations and reduce the impact of climate change?