LAW5666 · Climate litigation

Overview

This unit will explore the emerging and growing global phenomenon of climate litigation, namely the use of courts to try to achieve climate regulatory outcomes. The unit will critically examine examples of major climate litigation cases within Australia and comparatively across the Global North and South, through various thematic perspectives. Topics are likely to include global trends in climate litigation; the role of courts in the context of climate change; possibilities and limits of existing law (for example, administrative law and tort law) to the challenge of addressing climate change; concepts of climate justice and climate reparations; the role of distinctive groups (such as small island nations; children and First Nations peoples) as actors in climate litigation; and state obligations in respect of climate change under international law . The unit may also explore proposals to develop new tools for litigating gross environmental harms, such as the proposal towards an international crime of ecocide.

Offerings

Assessment

The Handbook does not list a final examination among the assessment items. That is not a guarantee there is none.

Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.

Requisites

Learning outcomes

1. Explain the global phenomenon of climate litigation and the potential role of different courts in achieving climate regulatory outcomes;
2. Demonstrate understanding of the legal technicalities that underpin selected examples of climate litigation;
3. Analyse and evaluate the aims of climate litigation, including in light of the international law obligations of states and incorporating various comparative, practical, policy, and theoretical perspectives;
4. Communicate persuasively and convincingly key ideas in a coherent and engaging fashion in both written and oral modes for a range of audiences.

Workload

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit typically comprises of a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study applicable to a 6 credit point unit. Learning activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning, and online engagement.

Student experience, not official rules. Nothing here changes what the Handbook says.