Disaster Law

The irreversible harm caused by greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) transcends national borders and time, challenging traditional concepts of law. In this blog post, we discuss the applicability of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to these overarching consequences of climate change, based on new reports issued by the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI) and the Norwegian NHRI. It is well established that the ECHR does not, as such, guarantee a right to a “clean and quiet environment” (Hatton, para. 96). The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is also yet to pronounce on the applicability of Convention rights to mitigate climate harm. It will have occasion to do so, should any of the two complaints from Portugal and Switzerland currently fast-tracked in Strasbourg, or a recent complaint from Norway, surmount the significant procedural hurdles they face (discussed here, here and here). Meanwhile, cases concerning…