Rights-based climate litigation has grown rapidly across the world. In Part 3 of the Climate Change on Trial: Mobilizing Human Rights Litigation to Accelerate Climate Action video series, Professor César Rodríguez-Garavito draws on CLX’s global case database to examine where these lawsuits are being filed, whom they target, and what they ask courts to do. The database identified 467 cases filed through the end of 2024, with the great majority filed since the 2015 Paris Agreement.
The video traces several legal arguments that have shaped the field. Courts have considered who can bring a climate claim when the harm is widespread, whether a government must do its fair share to reduce emissions regardless of other countries’ actions, and how today’s decisions can restrict the freedoms of future generations. Litigation against companies has also expanded, raising questions about corporate responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions.
These cases frequently draw on climate science and the Paris Agreement to assess whether governments’ actions match the scale and urgency of the climate crisis. Legal arguments also travel between jurisdictions, where advocates adapt them to local laws and circumstances. Yet the video identifies a persistent imbalance: most cases seek emissions reductions, while comparatively few address adaptation or compensation for climate harms. It closes with a question for the next part of the series: Do these legal innovations lead to meaningful climate action?
