Non-State Actors and Climate Litigation: How Climate Change Debate is Shifting from a Political to a Legal Debate

As any social issue, climate change is subjected to a political debate. The political debate on climate change is in my view the ongoing debate we have outside the courtroom. This is historically the primary forum for discussion on climate change and climate-related issues. Since climate change is a major concern for mankind, the social change it requires must undoubtedly come from collective action.

Way back to the environmental movement in the 70s, social movements have done quite a lot by putting climate change on the political agenda for attention and action. This effort raised public awareness of the issue and certainly influenced the more recent climate action movement, including the climate strikes.