NOW AVAILABLE: The Cambridge Handbook on Climate Litigation

In recent years, insufficient legislative and executive climate action has fostered a significant increase in litigation as an avenue to address this pressing global issue. 

With more than 2,500 climate-related cases filed worldwide, the field is rapidly evolving, both in terms of geography and legal substance, but lacks a comprehensive resource covering the topics that most frequently arise. The Cambridge Handbook on Climate Litigation – a project of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law’s Climate Change Law Specialist Group – addresses this gap by offering an authoritative guide to this complex landscape. 

Edited by Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh and Sarah Mead, and authored by recognised experts in the field, the Handbook comprises 20 chapters, each of which analyse a key issue relevant to contemporary climate litigation. These issues include standing, human rights, international law, the separation of powers doctrine, and state responsibility, with each chapter (i) describing how courts have dealt with the topic to date, (ii) identifying emerging best practices, and (iii) suggesting to what extent and how these findings may be scalable across jurisdictions. 

Through this analytical approach, the Handbook provides a wealth of guidance that will help judges, lawyers, scholars, and other actors navigate the intricacies of climate litigation. In so doing, the book also offers insights into the future of the field and its ability to contribute to law and policy, as well as the survival of our planet.

The Handbook is now freely available online and available in hard copy.