Climate Change Litigation in a Tort and Investor Protection Law Perspective (ClimaTIP)

ClimaTIP analyses the extent to which tort law can be used as a basis for climate change litigation and the interplay between tort law and investor protection law.

Over the past years, the world has seen an increase in climate change litigation, often in the shape of suits brought by NGOs or other private actors against governments with the overall policy goal of supporting the fight against climate change. Legal claims have been brought not only to obtain compensation for damage caused by climate change but also to prevent the initiation of projects allegedly bad for the climate or to force governmental action to avoid or mitigate climate change. While governments were the initial targets of such actions, they were more recently expanded against private companies (the ‘Carbon Majors’) as well. This project looks into the extent to which tort law can be used as a basis for climate change litigation and the extent to which IIAs can shield governments and private actors, respectively, against such claims.

The project is partly funded by the Orient’s Fund