Climate Change Litigation: Jurisdiction and Applicable Law

Eduardo Álvarez-Armas and Olivera Boskovic

Chapter 9 in Private International Law and Global Crises, 2026, pp 188-225 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Climate litigation is a very broad phenomenon, with various sub-species that feature widely diverging characteristics. This chapter focuses on the contribution that private international law may make thereto through a specific variety of litigation: private international climate change litigation. This is to be understood as proceedings: i) between private parties only; ii) of a private-law (generally, tort-law) nature; iii) conducted on the basis of private international law notions and rules; iv) over damage threatened or caused by climate-change-derived phenomena. This ‘private’ and ‘international’ penchant for climate change litigation is a relative novelty within ‘business and human rights’, transnational environmental litigation, and, more specifically, (broader) climate change litigation. This chapter will assess how the European Union's rules on international jurisdiction of courts and on choice of law may shape this kind of litigation when it comes before courts in EU Member States. It will address both the current state of the law and suggestions for reform.

Keywords: Private international climate change litigation; Environmental torts; Business and human rights; Choice of law; International jurisdiction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035360192
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