The progression of climate change has brought the issue of intergenerational justice further into focus. At the same time, there has been a global increase in climate litigation. Activists increasingly use litigation and fundamental and human rights as instruments to enforce their demands for intergenerational justice. This thesis, therefore, focuses on the question of whether climate litigation can transform intergenerational justice from a political norm into a human rights-based, justiciable right. Previous studies identified a human-rights turn in climate litigation. In addition, other studies revealed that climate activists are increasingly using intergenerational framing. However, the relationship between intergenerational justice and human rights is understudied. This thesis addresses the existing research gap. Utilizing a mechanism-based account, the legal framing and the legal interpretation of the Neubauer case, decided by the German Federal Constitutional Court are analyzed to show the transformation of intergenerational justice into a matter of human rights. Moreover, climate litigation cases at the ECtHR are analyzed whether they contain references to Neubauer to identify indicators for a precedent-setting effect upon the supranational human rights framework of ECHR. This thesis demonstrates the importance of climate litigation as a policy tool in national and international climate governance.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mau-60429 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Herrmann, Julian Robert |
| Publisher | Malmö universitet, Institutionen för globala politiska studier (GPS) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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