Climate change litigation in the European Court of Human Rights

The Moynihan Institute and the Law in World Affairs series presents Kresimir Kamber, from the European Court of Human Rights.

This talk will address the recent rulings of the European Court of Human Rights concerning climate change—Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland [GC], Carême v. France [GC] (dec.) and Duarte Agostinho and Others v. Portugal and 32 Others [GC] (dec.). It will unpack the Court’s main findings in relation to the issues of victim status, applicability of the relevant provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights and the nature and scope of the substantive State obligations in this context. The talk will also look at the prospective developments and limitations of the human rights-based climate change litigation. 

Krešimir Kamber is a senior legal adviser in the Directorate of the Jurisconsult of the European Court of Human Rights and in the Office of the President and Registrar of the Court. He is coordinator for the criminal justice-related issues within the Court. He also holds the position of a postdoctoral research fellow in the Ghent University Faculty of Law and Criminology. Previously he worked in private practice and for the public prosecution service of Croatia. He has widely published and regularly gives lectures on various issues of human rights law.