Human rights and climate wrongs: Mapping the landscape of rights-based climate litigation

Human rights-based climate litigation cases have become increasingly prominent over the past decade. While absolute numbers of these cases are still relatively low, they have attracted significant praise and scrutiny, both from the standpoint of the media and the academy. However, while there is a large body of scholarly literature on these rights-based climate cases, relatively little qualitative research has focused on the actors bringing these claims before the court. This article uses qualitative socio-legal research methods to examine how lawyers and activists in the climate litigation space think about these cases, their strategies and their reasons for using human rights-based arguments to address the climate crisis. By foregrounding these actors and their voices, this article tells the story of the human rights-based climate litigation movement and how it came together.