Protecting rights through climate change litigation before European courts

This article examines the scope for holding States to account for their failure to tackle dangerous climate change by bringing cases before regional European courts. We examine recent developments that demonstrate the difficulties faced by lawyers and activists when pursuing climate-change-related claims before the Court of Justice of the European Union. We then turn to consider rights-based climate complaints filed before the European Court of Human Rights, the hurdles they face and their comparatively better prospects of success.