Climate Rights and Remedies Project

We’re the Climate Rights and Remedies Project at the @UZH_en and we’re proud to host the Climate Rights Database and blog. Cases and new developments are added as they happen. Stay tuned for regular updates. climaterightsdatabase.com/database/

We have added a summary of the ECtHR's decision in Fliegenschnee and Others v. Austria climaterightsdatabase.com/2025/12/08/fli… via @Climate_Rights

We’ve added a short summary of Greenpeace Nordic and Others v. Norway (ECtHR, 28 Oct 2025) to our database. climaterightsdatabase.com/2021/06/15/the…

Fiji’s fight against climate change holds lessons for us all. Tomorrow, the Ursula Brunner Lecture Series welcomes Esther Gabriel from Harvard Law School. Tuesday, 16 September 2025 18:15–20:00 Room KOL-G-217, Rämistrasse 71, Zurich More information see climaterights.uzh.ch/en/Brunner-Lec…

Today Helen Keller was awarded the prestigious Grand Walther Hug Prize 🏆 We warmly congratulate her on this well-deserved recognition and celebrate her remarkable contributions to legal scholarship. 👏📚

The Ursula Brunner Lecture series continues to thrive — honoring the late Dr. Ursula Brunner, a true force in Swiss environmental law. The 9th lecture will take place on 16 September 2025, with Esther Gabriel as speaker. Details: climaterights.uzh.ch/en/Brunner-Lec…

Does the ICJ ignite states’ appetite for climate damages claims? Viktoriya Gurash tackles this in our most recent Climate Rights & Remedies blog. Read here ⬇️ climaterightsdatabase.com/2025/08/20/doe…

On 16 September 2025, we are pleased to welcome Esther Gabriel (Harvard Law School) to the University of Zurich to hold the Ursula Brunner Lecture on “Climate Remedies in the South Pacific: Operationalizing the Vanua”. climaterights.uzh.ch/en/Brunner-Lec…

In our next Climate Rights & Remedies blog, Pranav Ganesan unpacks the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion on the Paris Agreement: affirming 1.5 °C as the primary temperature goal and limiting states’ discretion in setting NDCs. Read more ⬇️ climaterightsdatabase.com/2025/08/14/the…

Our second Climate Rights & Remedies blog features Violetta Sefkow-Werner on the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion, analyzing its treatment of treaty and customary international law in the climate context. Read more ⬇️ climaterightsdatabase.com/2025/08/12/the…

In our first blog in the Climate Rights & Remedies series, Hazhar Jamali explores the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion and its cautious stance on extraterritorial human rights obligations in the climate context. Read more ⬇️ climaterightsdatabase.com/2025/08/07/the…

Helen Keller reflects on the ICJ’s climate opinion: does it open the door to a right to a clean, healthy & sustainable environment — or is that right still “not yet”? Read her full analysis: voelkerrechtsblog.org/a-right-to-a-c…

On 8 April 2024, we're deeply pleased to welcome Prof. Ole W. Pedersen to the University of Zurich to hold the eight Ursula Brunner Lecture on "International Climate Change Adjudication: Institutional Imaginations and Doctrinal Innovation". More here: climaterights.uzh.ch/en/Brunner-Lec…

Heute feiert die @operationlibero 50 Jahre Schweizer Ratifizierung der EMRK. Mit einer Installation in Bern ruft sie die Bedeutung dieses Menschenrechtsabkommens in Erinnerung und warnt sie vor Versuchen, die EMRK i.V.m. dem KlimaSeniorinnen-Urteil zu schwächen. Hochaktuell!

Heute an der @UZH_en: die jüngste Ursula Brunner Lecture wird von @RichterHedwig gehalten, mit einem Kommentar von @Johannes_Reich und Moderation durch @ch_blattner. Ab 18:15 im Hauptgebäude!

Two exciting recent rulings just added to our climate litigation database: four landmark South Korean cstl. mitigation cases (decided yesterday), and a German district court case recognizing rights of nature under EU law (!). See climaterightsdatabase.com/2024/08/30/min… & climaterightsdatabase.com/2024/08/30/ger….

Die gegenwärtigen Starkniederschläge in der Schweiz sind mit dem Klimawandel verbunden. Die Klimawissenschaften zeigen, dass "Starkniederschläge mit dem wärmeren Klima viel heftiger ausfallen und häufiger auftreten". @SISeneviratne erklärt es im Interview: srf.ch/news/schweiz/e…

Heute im ⁦⁦@tagesanzeiger⁩ : Streitgespräch mit unserer eigenen Helen Keller und SP-Ständerat Daniel Jositsch. Sie debattieren den Klima-Entscheid aus Strassburg. Sie findet ihn «bahnbrechend», er «falsch». Aber vor einer Gefahr warnen beide. tagesanzeiger.ch/klimaseniorinn…

Our summary of the new German "Zukunftsklage" - a constitutional climate case announced yesterday and following up on the landmark Neubauer ruling by drawing on the recent KlimaSeniorinnen judgment of the @ECHR_CEDH - is now live. climaterightsdatabase.com/2024/06/27/zuk…

Last Thursday, in R (Finch) v. Surrey County Council, the UK Supreme Court delivered a landmark judgment mandating inclusion of downstream emissions in EIAs. Today, Hazhar Jamali's comment on the case went live our blog. Check it out here: climaterightsdatabase.com/2024/06/25/uk-…

How do international courts clarify the relationship between the international climate regime (especially the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement) and their own constitutent instruments? @pranav_ganesan compared the ITLOS and ECtHR approaches for our blog: climaterightsdatabase.com/2024/06/11/ect…