Climate Injustice and the Rule of Law: Litigating a Livable Future in International Fora

Abstract

Climate change represents an "existential problem of planetary proportions" that imperils all forms of life and threatens the very foundations of human rights and the rule of law. This article examines the transformative role of climate litigation as a mechanism for advancing climate justice and holding states and corporations accountable for their contributions to the climate crisis. Drawing on the unprecedented wave of climate cases filed globally—over 3,000 as of June 2025—and the landmark advisory opinions of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), this article argues that international law has caught up with climate science. These judicial developments have crystallized states' stringent due diligence obligations to protect the climate system, affirmed the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment as a "precondition" for all other rights, and established that failure to take adequate climate action—including continued fossil fuel production, subsidies, and exploration—may constitute an internationally wrongful act. Through analysis of seminal cases including Urgenda, KlimaSeniorinnen, Neubauer, Leghari, and Lliuya v. RWE, this article demonstrates how courts are becoming essential arenas for addressing climate injustice, particularly for vulnerable communities in the Global South. It concludes by identifying pathways for leveraging these judicial developments in diplomacy and litigation to pursue fairer, more inclusive, and more respectful climate outcomes, while acknowledging the persistent challenges of implementation, enforcement, and the fundamental tension between judicial intervention and democratic governance.