Litigating Climate Vulnerability: Climate Change Reparations in Global Jurisprudence and Empirical Results from the Notre Dame Climate Change Reparations Dataset

Authors

Diane A. Desierto, Notre Dame Law SchoolFollow
Anibal Perez-Linan
Faisal Yamil Meneses
Yuta Inada
Rachael DeGaugh
Andrew Marciano

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2025

Publication Information

43 Berkeley J. Int'l L. 319 (2025).

Abstract

From the article

The global surge in climate change litigation provokes inquiry into the nature, frequency, and scope of climate change reparations that international, regional, and national courts, as well as arbitral tribunals and other adjudicative bodies such as UN treaty body mechanisms, determine to be adequate, both on legal merits as well as intrinsic claims of justice, for the resolution of disputes brought by climate vulnerable persons, groups, and constituencies against States, multinational corporations, and other actors. Our findings from the Notre Dame Climate Change Reparations Dataset reveal a broad spectrum of pecuniary and non-pecuniary reparations being adjudicated in courts and other adjudicative bodies, spanning extensive disputes involving mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage claims. We find that international courts and tribunals tend to focus narrowly on declaratory judgments resulting in the reinterpretation, annulment, or modification of climate regulations, while national courts exhibit a wider range of remedial authority to order both pecuniary reparations and non-pecuniary reparations. In particular, national and regional courts in the Global South exhibit distinct patterns of innovation as to non-pecuniary reparations, often ordering governments or private actors to undertake extensive conservation actions, restoration and remediation activities, as well as long-term protective measures that ultimately shape the future climate change policy in the jurisdiction where such measures are entrenched.

Recommended Citation

Diane A. Desierto, Anibal Perez-Linan, Faisal Y. Meneses, Yuta Inada, Rachael DeGaugh & Andrew Marciano, Litigating Climate Vulnerability: Climate Change Reparations in Global Jurisprudence and Empirical Results from the Notre Dame Climate Change Reparations Dataset, 43 Berkeley J. Int'l L. 319 (2025)..
Available at: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/1888