Climate refugees: Is litigation an effective strategy?

Lack of progress in climate change negotiations, accompanied with an overall sense of despair, has led civil society organisations to attempt different strategies in order to mobilise public opinion and push states towards more ambitious climate action. One notably strategy has been the use of national and international courts, with the hope that these will fill in the regulatory gap and force states into action. Many of these claims are relevant for climate refugees, whether explicitly (e.g. by addressing displacement) or indirectly (e.g. by addressing related questions such causality). While this trend is very much still ongoing, enough decisions have been made to allow for an interim assessment of this strategy. This chapter claims that while the appeal to courts have led to some progress, one must consider also the pitfalls inherent in this strategy.