Business, Human Rights and Climate Litigation

In recent years, courts across the globe have witnessed a boom in climate litigation cases, brought not only against States, but also corporations. In Milieudefensie et al. v. Royal Dutch Shell plc, for instance, Dutch courts found that companies can be held civilly liable for their contribution to climate change, and advanced the law when recognising that the United Nations Guiding Principles can be used as a source to interpret obligations arising from domestic law. But, even when successful, are rights-based claims and litigation beneficial to climate objectives? How can unintended environmental and human rights consequences from litigation be mitigated? And what broader trends can be identified in the case law on corporate responsibilities related to climate change and human rights? With a line-up of leading researchers and litigators in the field, this webinar shall address these and other questions related to the dubious relationship between human rights and climate change in the context of litigation against corporations. 

Speakers 

Dr Joana Setzer (Assistant Professorial Research Fellow, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science)

Joana is an Assistant Professorial Research Fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Her main areas of expertise are climate litigation and global environmental governance. Since 2013 she has been involved, and since 2020 she leads the Grantham Research Institute’s Climate Change Laws of the World project – the most comprehensive global resource on climate policy, legislation and litigation. Joana is currently serving as a Contributing Author for Working Group 3 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Review (IPCC AR6).

Dr Chiara Macchi (Lecturer in Law, Wageningen University & Research Law Group)

Chiara is a Lecturer in Law at Wageningen University & Research – Law Group and author of the book Business, Human Rights and the Environment: The Evolving Agenda (Asser-Springer, 2022). She joined the Law Group in 2019 as Marie Sklodowska-Curie Researcher with a project on Business and Human Rights in the policies of the European Union. She is an assistant editor of Transnational Environmental Law and co-chair of the Business and Human Rights working group of the Netherlands Network for Human Rights Research. She has authored publications on climate due diligence, extraterritorial human rights obligations, human rights due diligence legislation, the right to water, the trade-human rights link and the human rights responsibilities of investors.

Charlotte Hanson (Lawyer, Energy Systems, ClientEarth)

Charlotte’s career has centred around climate law and policy. She was researcher to Australia’s leading environmental law judge, the Honourable Justice Brian Preston, and is now a lawyer at Europe's leading environmental law charity, ClientEarth. Charlotte's work focuses on increasing the accountability of companies and governments to climate objectives, through strategic legal interventions including on greenwashing and emissions reporting. She is currently studying for a Master of Public Policy at Oxford's Blavatnik School of Government