Author
Prof Yuhong Zhao
Organisation/Institution
The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)
Country
HONG KONG (SAR OF CHINA)
Panel
Environmental Law
Title
Climate Litigation in China: An Emerging Tool for Mitigation and Adaptation
Abstract
Climate litigation has caught public attention as a tool for climate governance in the Global North since the 1990s. Despite the repeated warnings issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) about the perils of climate change since its publication of the first Assessment Report in 1990, the global response has been disappointingly slow and ineffective since the adoption of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992). Frustrated by government and corporate inaction, concerned individuals and non-governmental organizations have turned to courts for climate action. There is high expectation of climate litigation to compel governments and enterprises to implement their climate commitments and pursue more ambitious mitigation and adaptation goals. This paper examines the emergence of climate litigation in China and investigates the characteristics demonstrated by the China practice that is different from many other jurisdictions. It analyzes the crucial role of the judiciary in climate governance through case study. From a comparative perspective and with reference to the UNEP’s Global Climate Litigation Reports, the paper explores the prospects of core climate litigation in China in anticipation of specialized climate legislation and the enactment and revision of climate-related energy and environmental laws. The paper concludes by highlighting the urgency for climate legislation to provide the much-needed statutory basis for core climate litigation to become a powerful tool for both mitigation and adaptation in China.
Biography
Zhao Yuhong, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Professor Zhao specialises in Chinese environmental law, climate law and policy, and comparative environmental law. She is author of the Chinese Environmental Law (Cambridge University Press, 2021) and many articles on aspects of environmental law reform in China as well as China’s participation in international environmental governance published by prestigious law journals including Chinese Journal of Comparative Law, German Yearbook of International Law, Journal of Environmental Law, Journal of Comparative Law, Hong Kong Law Journal, and Tsinghua China Law Review. She teaches Chinese environmental law and Chinese civil law on both the LLB and LLM programmes.
