2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Empirical Study on Climate Litigation: Towards Its Theorization

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	19H01435
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Review Section	Basic Section 05070:New fields of law-related
Research Institution	The University of Tokyo
Principal Investigator	Takamura Yukari 東京大学, 未来ビジョン研究センター, 教授 (70303518)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	伊達規子 (大久保規子) 大阪大学, 大学院法学研究科, 教授 (00261826) 島村健神戸大学, 法学研究科, 教授 (50379492) 大塚直早稲田大学, 法学学術院, 教授 (90143346)
Project Period (FY)	2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
Keywords	気候変動訴訟 / 気候変動 / 訴訟 / 人権条約 / 人権法
Outline of Final Research Achievements	This research project examined the rapidly expanding global climate change litigation that has been filed in courts in major jurisdictions, international courts, and treaty bodies, to understand global trends and to analyze legal issues relevant to climate change litigation (e.g., (1) standing, (2) applicable law and regulations, (3) burden of proof). Invoking and applying human rights treaties, such as right to life, in climate change litigation is one of the important features. Especially in Latin America, it intersects with the application of the rights of nature and the rights of future generations. We analyzed the legal issues in Japanese climate change litigation in contrast with global trends of climate change litigation, and also discussed the legal and policy background of lawsuits filed over the construction of coal-fired power plants and problems and challenges for Japanese laws and regulations.
Free Research Field	国際法学、環境法学
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	実証研究に基づき気候変動訴訟の実態と全体像を把握し、主要な訴訟について当事者や裁判所等が動員する理論・理由づけの妥当性、有効性、限界を明らかにした。加えて、国際人権条約が気候変動訴訟において援用・適用され、その判断に影響を及ぼし、また、気候変動訴訟を通じて、侵害の態様が個別的（personal）でなく一般的な（気候変動による）侵害についての人権条約の解釈も展開する。これらの研究成果を参照しつつ、気候変動対策強化の方策の一貫として気候変動訴訟が持つポテンシャルと課題を明らかにし、日本における気候変動訴訟と気候変動に関連する法制度の課題を明らかにしたことには社会的意義がある。