Leiden, Koninklijke Brill NV, 2021, 544 pages, € 281.00

With the publication of the latest, highly disturbing, report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), combating climate change has gained renewed relevance and public attention. In its multiple reports, the IPCC has repeatedly warned of the cascading effects of climate change, which is already causing widespread natural disruption and large-scale human rights violations. Still, the ever-alarming appeals of the scientific community, which require urgent action in the face of a closing window of opportunity, have not (yet) led to decisive political action. On the contrary, the international community is somewhat hesitant to implement ambitious climate protection measures, risking the occurrence of irreversible climate change: the so-called tipping points. Against this background, plaintiffs around the world file so-called climate lawsuits, seeking to oblige states and enterprises (mainly ‘carbon majors’) to implement more ambitious climate protection measures, or to try and obtain compensation for climate damage already suffered. The ultimate aim is to close the currently wide gap between scientific recommendations and projections, on the one hand, and climate policies implemented in practice, on the other, and to avert, or at least mitigate, dangerous climate change and its disastrous impacts on people and the environment. Climate change has, thus, become a legal issue that courts are increasingly concerned with. Even though climate lawsuits are oft en brought in national fora, there is a high degree of communication between different jurisdictions, and courts tend to reference each other’s arguments and reasoning on climate change to a large extent.

The publication at hand, edited by Ivano Alogna, Christine Bakker and Jean- Pierre Gauci, represents a most valuable contribution to this interjurisdictional communication. It provides profound insights into various litigation efforts and enables judges, lawyers, academics and representatives of civil society to map out possibilities and constraints in climate change litigation. The anthology, which emerged from a conference titled, ‘Climate Change Litigation: Comparative and International Perspectives’, held at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law in 2020, gathers high-profile climate change litigation experts from around the globe. It takes a comprehensive approach in combining academic and non-academic national and international perspectives.