Grizelda Mayo-Anda shared her expertise in seeking redress for climate change impacts on human rights by filing the Carbon Majors petition before the Philippine Human Rights Commission.

Briony Eales explained the concept and types of climate litigation. She then discussed a few cases exemplifying the complexities of standing for public interest suits, holding governments accountable, permitting and judicial review, cases against private parties, climate adaptation, impacts on vulnerable people, and post-disaster and climate migration. She concluded by providing key takeaways on climate justice.

Andrew Raine drew the participants' attention to the worsening climate crisis and the crucial role of judges in climate action. Judges will increasingly be called upon to apply the law to (i) protect the environment and safeguard the climate; (ii) uphold the rights of their citizens to a clean, safe and sustainable environment; and (iii) hold governments accountable to their commitments regarding climate adaptation in particular. He also pointed out the accelerating wave of climate litigation across the world and the plethora of climate-related cases coming before courts.

The value of environmental justice is becoming increasingly prominent in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). As climate litigation is a more recent discourse, it might be a challenge to transplant it into PRC directly. Nonetheless, climate litigation is one of the four case types handled by PRC’s environmental courts and may get higher priority in the near future.