SpringerLink
Log in

Climate Justice and Transnational Climate Constitutionalism

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Global Climate Constitutionalism “from below”

  • 148 Accesses

Abstract

Global constitutionalism offers a way of thinking about international law that finds its raison d'être in the individual. It seeks to offer individuals more opportunities for democratic participation than the traditional model of international law. Democratic legitimacy is therefore crucial to theories of global constitutionalism but is often 'forgotten' in the scholarly discourse that focuses more on the international rule of law. However, the constitutionalisation of parts of the international legal order says nothing about the 'justness' of this phenomenon. This Chapter analyses why climate change is first and foremost a question of global justice. It then examines whether there is or should be a legal obligation to global climate justice, why climate justice should be central to theories of global climate constitutionalism and what this implies for global democratic legitimacy.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free ship** worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Anne Peters, ‘Compensatory Constitutionalism: The Function and Potential of Fundamental International Norms and Structures’ (2006) 19 Leiden Journal of International Law 579, 607.

  2. 2.

    Jan Aart Scholte, ‘Civil Society and Democratically Accountable Global Governance’ (2004) 39 Government and Opposition 212; Michael Zürn, ‘Global Governance and Legitimacy Problems’ (2004) 39 Government and Opposition 260, 260–1.

  3. 3.

    Martine Beijerman, ‘Conceptual Confusions in Debating the Role of NGOs for the Democratic Legitimacy of International Law’ (2018) 9 Transnational Legal Theory 147, 162.

  4. 4.

    Jürgen Habermas, ‘Remarks on Legitimation through Human Rights’ in Jürgen Habermas and Max Pensky (eds), The Postnational Constellation: Political Essays (Polity Press 2001) 116.

  5. 5.

    Lars Viellechner, ‘Verfassung ohne Staat. Eine Einführung’ in Lars Viellechner (ed), Verfassung ohne Staat (Nomos 2019) 12.

  6. 6.

    Hauke Brunkhorst, Solidarität. Von der Bürgerfreundschaft zur globalen Rechtsgenossenschaft (Suhrkamp 2002) 201.

  7. 7.

    Richard Falk and Andrew Strauss, ‘Toward Global Parliament’ (2001) 80 Foreign Affairs 212, 220. Facing this democratic deficit of international governance, for some commentators such as Carl Schmitt, democracy beyond the nation-state is simply impossible. This is the reason to appeal to the indispensability of the traditional Westphalian model with strong states guaranteeing popular sovereignty. He argues that ‘[t]he central concept of democracy is people and not humanity.’ Democracy cannot exist without and only within the (homogenous) nation-state, see Carl Schmitt, Constitutional Theory (1928) (Duke University Press 2008) 261ff (263).

  8. 8.

    See e.g. Samantha Besson, ‘Sovereignty, International Law and Democracy’ (2011) 22 European Journal of International Law 373; see also Anne Peters, ‘Der Mensch im Mittelpunkt des Völkerrechts’, Lecture given on 27 November 2013 in the context of the farewell of Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Rüdiger Wolfrum as Director of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law and introduction of Prof. Dr. Anne Peters as new Director (2013) para 9 < http://www.mpil.de/files/pdf3/Peters_Der_Mensch_im_Mittelpunkt_des_Voelkerrechts._Vortrag_zur_Amtseinfuehrung_als_neue_Direktorin_am_Max_Planck_Institut_fuer_Voelkerrecht_27.11.20131.pdf > accessed 31 August 2023.

  9. 9.

    Peters, ‘Der Mensch im Mittelpunkt des Völkerrechts’ (n 8) 7.

  10. 10.

    Anne Peters, ‘Dual Democracy’ in Jan Klabbers, Anne Peters and Geir Ulfstein (eds), The Constitutionalization of International Law (OUP 2009) 332.

  11. 11.

    Ibid.

  12. 12.

    Peters, ‘Der Mensch im Mittelpunkt des Völkerrechts’ (n 8) 7.

  13. 13.

    Eyal Benvenisti, ‘Sovereigns As Trustees of Humanity: On the Accountability of States To Foreign Stakeholders’ (2013) 107 The American Journal of International Law 295, 298.

  14. 14.

    Ibid 296.

  15. 15.

    Ibid 298; David Held, Democracy and the Global Order: From the Modern State to Cosmopolitan Governance (Polity Press 1995) 228.

  16. 16.

    Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Republica (Georg Heinrich Moser ed, 1826) 369, ‘For what are the advantages of our country if not the disadvantages of another city or nation?’ (tr the author).

  17. 17.

    Mattias Kumm, ‘Constituent Power, Cosmopolitan Constitutionalism, and Post-Positivist Law’ (2016) 14 International Journal of Constitutional Law 697, 704–5.

  18. 18.

    Benvenisti (n 13) 300.

  19. 19.

    Ibid 308.

  20. 20.

    IACtHR, ‘Advisory Opinion OC-23/17—The Environment and Human Rights’ (2017); for an analysis see Maria L Banda, ‘Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ Advisory Opinion on the Environment and Human Rights’ American Society of International Law (2018) < https://www.asil.org/insights/volume/22/issue/6/inter-american-court-human-rights-advisory-opinion-environment-and-human > accessed 31 August 2023; for an extensive analysis in German see Verena Kahl, ‘Ökologische Revolution am Interamerikanischen Gerichtshof für Menschenrechte—Besprechung des Rechtsgutachtens Nr.23 „Umwelt und Menschenrechte “ (OC-23/17)’ (2019) 17 Zeitschrift für Europäisches Umwelt- und Plannungsrecht 110.

  21. 21.

    See Peters, ‘Compensatory Constitutionalism: The Function and Potential of Fundamental International Norms and Structures’ (n 1); Christine EJ Schwöbel, Global Constitutionalism in International Legal Perspective (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2011) 23; Brunkhorst (n 6) 169; Matthias Kumm, ‘The Legitimacy of International Law: A Constitutionalist Framework of Analysis’ (2004) 15 European Journal of International Law 907, 912–3; Jürgen Habermas, ‘The Postnational Constellation and the Future of Democracy’ in Jürgen Habermas and Max Pensky (eds), The Postnational Constellation: Political Essays (Polity Press 2001) 78: ‘Power can be democratized; money cannot’.

  22. 22.

    David Held, ‘Democratic Accountability and Political Effectiveness from a Cosmopolitan Perspective’ (2004) 39 Government and Opposition 364, 367.

  23. 23.

    Angelika Emmerich-Fritsche, Vom Völkerrecht zum Weltrecht (Duncker & Humblot 2007) 304.

  24. 24.

    Anne Peters, ‘Global Constitutionalism Revisited’ (2005) 11 Legal Theory 39, 41.

  25. 25.

    Petra Dobner, ‘More Law, Less Democracy? Democracy and Transnational Constitutionalism’ in Petra Dobner and Martin Loughlin (eds), The Twilight of Constitutionalism? (OUP 2010) 147.

  26. 26.

    Hauke Brunkhorst, ‘Constitutionalism and Democracy in the World Society’ in Petra Dobner and Martin Loughlin (eds), The Twilight of Constitutionalism? (OUP 2010) 191.

  27. 27.

    Daniel Bodansky, ‘The Legitimacy of International Governance: A Coming Challenge for International Environmental Law’ (1999) 93 The American Journal of International Law 596, 362; Emmerich-Fritsche (n 23) 304.

  28. 28.

    Dobner (n 25) 147; Emmerich-Fritsche (n 23) 300.

  29. 29.

    Emmerich-Fritsche (n 23) 629.

  30. 30.

    Eric Allen Engle, ‘The Transformation of the International Legal System: The Post-Westphalian Legal Order’ (2004) 23 Quinnipiac Law Review; Neil Walker, ‘Beyond Boundary Disputes and Basic Grids: Map** the Global Disorder of Normative Orders’ (2008) 6 International Journal of Constitutional Law 373.

  31. 31.

    Dobner (n 25) 148.

  32. 32.

    Ibid.

  33. 33.

    Ibid 142.

  34. 34.

    Daniel Bodansky, ‘Is There an International Environmental Constitution?’ (2009) 16 Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies 565, 583.

  35. 35.

    “[T]o the extent that nonconsensual norms and decision-making processes will need to play a larger role in the future to respond to collective action problems such as climate change, then international law will need some new basis of legitimacy. At first glance, democracy seems like a potential candidate, but it is difficult to conceive how democracy could operate at the global level in the absence of a global demos. As a result, constitutionalism has become an attractive alternative”, ibid (citations omitted).

  36. 36.

    Anne Peters, ‘The Merits of Global Constitutionalism’ (2009) 16 Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies 397, 403.

  37. 37.

    Peters, ‘Dual Democracy’ (n 10) 312–3.

  38. 38.

    Ibid 278.

  39. 39.

    Stefan Oeter, ‘Regime Collisions from a Perspective of Global Constitutionalism’ in Kerstin Blome and others (eds), Contested Regime Collisions. Norm Fragmentation in World Society (CUP 2016) 23.

  40. 40.

    Ulrich Beck, World at Risk (Polity Press 2008) 104.

  41. 41.

    Paul G Harris, World Ethics and Climate Change: From International to Global Justice (Edinburgh University Press 2010) 58.

  42. 42.

    Jan Klabbers, ‘Setting the Scene’ in Jan Klabbers, Anne Peters and Geir Ulfstein (eds), The Constitutionalization of International Law (OUP 2009) 8.

  43. 43.

    Jordi Jaria-Manzano, ‘Law in the Anthropocene’ in Jordi Jaria-Manzano and Susana Borràs (eds), Research Handbook on Global Climate Constitutionalism (Edward Elgar Publishing 2019) 43; Carmen G Gonzalez, ‘Global Justice in the Anthropocene’ in Louis J Kotzé (ed), Environmental Law and Governance for the Anthropocene (Hart/Bloomsbury Publishing 2017) 229ff.

  44. 44.

    Bodansky (n 27) 596.

  45. 45.

    Sheila R Foster, ‘Vulnerability, Equality and Environmental Justice’ in Ryan Holifield, Jayajit Chakraborty and Gordon Walker (eds), The Routledge Handbook of Environmental Justice (Routledge 2017) 136.

  46. 46.

    Robert R Kuehn, ‘A Taxonomy of Environmental Justice’ (2000) 30 Environmental Law Reporter 10,681, 10,684.

  47. 47.

    Steve Vanderheiden, ‘Environmental and Climate Justice’ in Teena Gabrielson and others (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Political Theory (OUP 2016) 323.

  48. 48.

    Ibid 322–5.

  49. 49.

    Peter Singer, ‘One Atmosphere’ in Stephen M Gardiner and others (eds), Climate Ethics: Essential Readings (OUP 2010).

  50. 50.

    Will Steffen and others, ‘The Anthropocene: Conceptual and Historical Perspectives’ (2011) 369 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 842.

  51. 51.

    Andreas Malm and Alf Hornborg, ‘The Geology of Mankind? A Critique of the Anthropocene Narrative’ (2014) 1 The Anthropocene Review 62, 64 (citations omitted).

  52. 52.

    Ibid 65.

  53. 53.

    Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights Philipp Alston, ‘Climate Change and Poverty (A/HRC/41/39)’ (2019) para 14.

  54. 54.

    David Satterthwaite, ‘The Implications of Population Growth and Urbanization for Climate Change’ (2009) 21 Environment and Urbanization 545, 564.

  55. 55.

    Carmen G Gonzalez, ‘Environmental Justice and International Environmental Law’ in Alam Shawkat and others (eds), Routledge Handbook of International Environmental Law (Routledge 2012) 78ff; (n 53).

  56. 56.

    Cf. U Thara Srinivasan, ‘Economics of Climate Change: Risk and Responsibility by World Region’ (2010) 10 Climate Policy 298; Nicolas Stern, ‘The Stern Review on Economics of Climate Change’ (2006); Sumudu Atapattu, ‘Environmental Justice, Climate Justice and Constitutionalism: Protecting Vulnerable States and Communities’ in Jordi Jaria-Manzano and Susana Borràs (eds), Research Handbook on Global Climate Constitutionalism (Edward Elgar Publishing 2019).

  57. 57.

    Gonzalez (n 55) 79.

  58. 58.

    Douglas de Castro, ‘The Colonial Aspects of International Environmental Law: Treaties as Promoters of Continuous Structural Violence’ (2017) 5 Groningen Journal of International Law 168.

  59. 59.

    Philippe Descola ‘Humain. Trop Humain’, Esprit 2015 (16–7), quoted and translated by Domenico Branca, ‘Humanity in/of the Anthropocene: An Anthropological Perspective’ in Elizabeth G Dobbins, Maria Lucia Piga and Luigi Manca (eds), Environment, Social Justice, and the Media in the Age of the Anthropocene (Lexington 2020) 24.

  60. 60.

    Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink, ‘International Norm Dynamics and Political Change’ (1998) 52 International Organization 887, 895ff.

  61. 61.

    Evan Gach, ‘Normative Shifts in the Global Conception of Climate Change: The Growth of Climate Justice’ (2019) 8 Social Sciences 12 and 14. He found with respect to the positions of UNFCCC members and non-state actors that a norm of climate justice frames climate change as ‘(i) a fundamental issue of justice and equality, (ii) a problem that necessitates compensation for loss and damage to those most impacted, (iii) an issue that exacerbates existing gender, racial, social, and economic inequalities, (iv) a human rights issue instead of simply an environmental one, and (v) not an all-encompassing global issue that impacts all countries and peoples, but one of contextual impacts and vulnerabilities'.

  62. 62.

    Finnemore and Sikkink (n 60) 902.

  63. 63.

    UNFCCC Conference of the Parties, Adoption of the Paris Agreement, Dec. 12, 2015. U.N. Doc. FCCC/CP/2015/L.9 (Annex).

  64. 64.

    For an overview of how climate justice was embedded in various environmental treaties, see Harris (n 41) 59–70.

  65. 65.

    Paul Baer, ‘International Justice’ in John S Dryzek, Richard B Norgaard and David Schlosberg (eds), Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society (OUP 2011) 323.

  66. 66.

    See, for example, Melissa S Knodel, ‘Wet Feet Marching: Climate Justice and Sustainable Development for Climate Displaced Nations in the South Pacific’ (2012) 14 Vermont Journal of Environmental Law 127; Jeremy M Bellavia, ‘What Does Climate Justice Look Like for the Environmentally Displaced in a Post Paris Agreement Environment? Political Questions and Court Deference to Climate Science in the Urgenda Decision’ (2016) 4 Denver Journal of International Law and Policy 453.

  67. 67.

    Ludvig Beckman and Edward A Page, ‘Perspectives on Justice, Democracy and Global Climate Change’ (2008) 17 Environmental Politics 527, 528.

  68. 68.

    Tim Hayward, ‘Human Rights Versus Emissions Rights: Climate Justice and the Equitable Distribution of Ecological Space’ (2007) 21 Ethics and International Affairs 431.

  69. 69.

    Edward A Page, ‘Distributing the Burdens of Climate Change’ (2008) 17 Environmental Politics 556.

  70. 70.

    David Schlosberg, ‘Disruption, Community, and Resilient Governance—Environmental Justice in the Anthropocene’ in Tobias Haller and others (eds), The Commons in a Glocal World: Global Connections and Local Responses (Routledge 2019) 64ff.

  71. 71.

    Philip Coventry and Chukwumerije Okereke, ‘Climate Change and Environmental Justice’ in Ryan Holifield, Jayajit Chakraborty and Gordon Walker (eds), The Routledge Handbook of Environmental Justice (Routledge 2017) 365–8; Vanderheiden (n 47).

  72. 72.

    Atapattu (n 56) 201.

  73. 73.

    Kuehn (n 46).

  74. 74.

    Gonzalez (n 55) 78–9.

  75. 75.

    Anne Peters, ‘Global Constitutionalism’ in Michael Gibbons (ed), The Encyclopedia of Political Thought (John Wiley & Sons 2015) 1.

  76. 76.

    Andrew Dobson, ‘Environmental Citizenship: Towards Sustainable Development’ (2007) 15 Sustainable Development 276, 281.

  77. 77.

    Harris (n 41) 59; Baer (n 65) 323–4.

  78. 78.

    For an overview of climate financing and the diverse mechanisms, see Barbara K Buchner and others, ‘Global Landscape of Climate Finance’ (2019) < https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/2019-Global-Landscape-of-Climate-Finance.pdf > accessed 31 August 2023; Britta Horstmann and Jonas Hein, ‘Aligning Climate Change Mitigation and Sustainable Development under the UNFCCC: A Critical Assessment of the Clean Development Mechanism, the Green Climate Fund and REDD + ’ (2017); Lovleen Bhullar, ‘REDD + and the Clean Development Mechanism: A Comparative Perspective’ [2013] International Journal of Rural Law and Policy; Hayley Stevenson, Global Environmental Politics. Problems, Policy, and Practice (CUP 2017); Charlotte Streck, ‘Innovativeness and Paralysis in International Climate Policy’ (2012) 1 Transnational Environmental Law 137.

  79. 79.

    OECD, Climate Finance Provided and Mobilised by Developed Countries in 2013–18 (OECD Publishing 2020) 6.

  80. 80.

    Baer (n 65) 323.

  81. 81.

    Ibid 325.

  82. 82.

    Thomas Pogge, World Poverty and Human Rights (Polity Press 2002) 169 (emphasis in original).

  83. 83.

    See Chapter 3 ‘International Environmental Justice’ in Harris (n 41) 53–73.

  84. 84.

    Ibid 100.

  85. 85.

    Ibid 119.

  86. 86.

    Ibid 153–4; Peter Singer, One World: The Ethics of Globalisation (2nd edn, Yale University Press 2004).

  87. 87.

    Henry Shue, Basic Rights: Subsistence, Affluence, and U.S. Foreign Policy (Princeton University Press 1980) 22ff.

  88. 88.

    Martha C Nussbaum, The Cosmopolitan Tradition: A Noble but Flawed Ideal (Harvard University Press 2019) 7–8.

  89. 89.

    Ibid 18–19.

  90. 90.

    Ibid 20.

  91. 91.

    ECtHR, Tătar v. Romania, Judgement of 27 January 2009, App. no. 67021/01, para 107, see also Council of Europe, Manual on Human Rights and the Environment (2nd edn, 2012) 50.

  92. 92.

    Pogge (n 82) 23–4, also Chapter 7 ‘Cosmopolitanism and Sovereignty’ (168–95).

  93. 93.

    Ibid 130ff (133).

  94. 94.

    Ibid 66.

  95. 95.

    Simon Caney, ‘Cosmopolitanism and the Environment’ in Teena Gabrielson and others (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Political Theory (OUP 2016) 246; Henry Shue, ‘Subsistence Emissions and Luxury Emissions’ (1993) 15 Law & Policy 39.

  96. 96.

    Benoit Mayer, ‘Interpreting States’ General Obligations on Climate Change Mitigation: A Methodological Review’ (2019) 28 Review of European, Comparative and International Environmental Law 107, 108.

  97. 97.

    Frank Ackerman and Kevin Gallagher, ‘Getting the Prices Wrong: The Limits of Market-Based Environmental Policy’ [2000] Global Development and Environment Institute Working Paper 00–05.

  98. 98.

    Aharon Barak, Proportionality: Constitutional Rights and Their Limitations (CUP 2012) 427.

  99. 99.

    UN World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future (Brundtland Report) (OUP 1987) 45.

  100. 100.

    Gonzalez (n 43) 228–9.

  101. 101.

    Teresa Thorp, ‘Climate Justice: A Constitutional Approach to Unify the Lex Specialis Principles of International Climate Law’ (2012) 8 Utrecht Law Review 7, 29.

  102. 102.

    In this sense, UN Special Rapporteur David Boyd points out that “[w]ith respect to substantive obligations, States must not violate the right to a safe climate through their own actions; must protect that right from being violated by third parties, especially businesses; and must establish, implement and enforce laws, policies and programmes to fulfil that right”, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment David Boyd, ‘Special Report on Human Rights Obligations Relating to the Enjoyment of a Safe, Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment (A/74/161)’ (2019) 18 (para 65).

  103. 103.

    See e.g. Laura Burgers and Tim Staal, ‘Climate Action as Positive Human Rights Obligation: The Appeals Judgment in Urgenda v The Netherlands’ [2019] Amsterdam Law School Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2019–01.

  104. 104.

    Henry Shue, Climate Justice: Vulnerability and Protection (2014) 144.

  105. 105.

    Josef Isensee, ‘Grundrechte und Demokratie’ (1981) 20 Der Staat 161, 170. German: ‘Soziale Gerechtigkeit des Grundrechtsstaates aber bedeutet: praktische Zugänglichkeit der grundrechtlichen Freiheit für alle in der gesellschaftlichen Realität’.

  106. 106.

    Thomas Nagel, ‘The Problem of Global Justice’ (2005) 33 Philosophy and Public Affairs 113.

  107. 107.

    David Miller, On Nationality (Clarendon Press 1995) 73–80 and Chapter 4.

  108. 108.

    Ibid 75; for an overview of cosmopolitan and communitarian positions, see Ruud Koopmans and Michael Zürn, ‘Cosmopolitanism and Communitarianism – How Globalization Is Resha** Politics in the Twenty-First Century’ in Pieter de Wilde and others (eds), The Struggle Over Borders: Cosmopolitanism and Communitarianism (CUP 2019) 11–7.

  109. 109.

    Nagel (n 106) 120.

  110. 110.

    Ibid.

  111. 111.

    John Rawls, The Law of Peoples (Harvard University Press 1999).

  112. 112.

    John Rawls, A Theory of Justice (1971) (Revised Ed, OUP 1999).

  113. 113.

    Charles R Beitz, Political Theory and International Relations (Princeton University Press 1979) 151, 176; Gillian Brock, Global Justice: A Cosmopolitan Account (OUP 2009) 20.

  114. 114.

    Brock (n 113) 20.

  115. 115.

    Nagel (n 106) 123–4.

  116. 116.

    Allen Buchanan, ‘Rawls’s Law of Peoples: Rules for a Vanished Westphalian World’ (2000) 110 Ethics 697.

  117. 117.

    Ibid 710, arguing that ‘[t]here is no indication that this duty of aid is to be understood as the collective responsibility of the society of peoples and no mention of a right on the part of “‘burdened societies’” to receive it. In other words, the duty as Rawls conceives it seems to resemble an imperfect duty of charity rather than a duty of justice.’; see also Charles R Beitz, ‘Rawls’s Law of Peoples’ (2000) 110 Ethics 669, 689ff.

  118. 118.

    Hyunseop Kim, ‘An Extension of Rawls’s Theory of Justice for Climate Change’ (2019) 11 International Theory 160.

  119. 119.

    Nussbaum (n 88) 20ff.

  120. 120.

    Nagel (n 106) 127–8.

  121. 121.

    Ibid 127.

  122. 122.

    Ibid 121.

  123. 123.

    Ibid 128.

  124. 124.

    Ibid.

  125. 125.

    Ibid 132.

  126. 126.

    Ibid 140.

  127. 127.

    Ibid 121, 138.

  128. 128.

    David Heyd, ‘Justice and Solidarity: The Contractarian Case against Global Justice’ (2007) 38 Journal of Social Philosophy 112, 113ff.

  129. 129.

    Ibid 115–6.

  130. 130.

    John Rawls, Justice as Fairness—A Restatement (Erin Kelly ed, Belknap Press 2001) 84–5.

  131. 131.

    Heyd, ‘Justice and Solidarity: The Contractarian Case against Global Justice’ (n 128) 116.

  132. 132.

    Ibid.

  133. 133.

    Ibid 125.

  134. 134.

    Gonzalez (n 43) 221ff.

  135. 135.

    Ibid 223 (citations omitted).

  136. 136.

    ‘The principle of just savings holds between generations, while the difference principle holds within generations’, Rawls, Justice as Fairness—A Restatement (n 130) 159.

  137. 137.

    Rawls, A Theory of Justice (1971) (n 112) 254.

  138. 138.

    Ibid 104.

  139. 139.

    Ibid 254–5.

  140. 140.

    Ibid 109, 111.

  141. 141.

    Ibid 121.

  142. 142.

    Ibid 255.

  143. 143.

    Ibid.

  144. 144.

    Ibid 141.

  145. 145.

    Rawls, Justice as Fairness—A Restatement (n 130) 160.

  146. 146.

    David Heyd, ‘A Value or an Obligation? Rawls on Justice to Future Generations’ in Axel Gosseries and Lukas H Meyer (eds), Intergenerational Justice (OUP 2009) 175.

  147. 147.

    Ibid 184–5.

  148. 148.

    Richard P Hiskes, The Human Right to a Green Future: Environmental Rights and Intergenerational Justice (CUP 2008) 117.

  149. 149.

    Ibid 118.

  150. 150.

    Heyd, ‘Justice and Solidarity: The Contractarian Case against Global Justice’ (n 128) 112.

  151. 151.

    Ibid 127.

  152. 152.

    Ibid 112.

  153. 153.

    Dobson (n 76) 281.

  154. 154.

    Ibid (emphasis in original).

  155. 155.

    David Heyd, ‘Climate Ethics, Affirmative Action, and Unjust Enrichment’ in Lukas H Meyer and Pranay Sanklecha (eds), Climate Justice and Historical Emissions (CUP 2017) 25.

  156. 156.

    Ibid 31–2.

  157. 157.

    Ibid 34ff (36).

  158. 158.

    Ibid 43 (emphasis in original).

  159. 159.

    German Federal Constitutional Court (GFCC), Order of the First Senate of 24 March 2021—1 BvR 2656/18, see also Press Release No. 31/2021 of 29 April 2021 ‘Constitutional complaints against the Federal Climate Change Act partially successful’,< https://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/EN/2021/bvg21-031.html>accessed 23 August 2023.

  160. 160.

    GFCC, 1 BvR 2656/18, para 174.

  161. 161.

    Ibid paras 170, 172.

  162. 162.

    Ibid para 174.

  163. 163.

    Ibid paras 176 ff.

  164. 164.

    Bert Gordijn and Henk ten Have, ‘Ethics of Mitigation, Adaptation and Geoengineering’ (2012) 15 Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 1, 1.

  165. 165.

    GFCC, 1 BvR 2656/18, para 178.

  166. 166.

    IPCC, ‘Climate Change 2014 Synthesis Report’ (2015) 94.

  167. 167.

    The Climate Reality Project, ‘Climate Adaptation vs. Mitigation: What’s the Difference, and Why Does It Matter?’ (7 November 2019) < https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/climate-adaptation-vs-mitigation-why-does-it-matter > accessed 31 August 2023; see also Reviva Hasson, Åsa Löfgren and Martine Visser, ‘Climate Change in a Public Goods Game: Investment Decision in Mitigation versus Adaptation’ (2010) 70 Ecological Economics 331, 331.

  168. 168.

    Gordijn and ten Have (n 164) 1.

  169. 169.

    Cf. Richard JT Klein and others, ‘Inter-Relationships between Adaptation and Mitigation’ in Martin Parry and others (eds), Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contributions of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (CUP 2007) 747.

  170. 170.

    The Climate Reality Project (n 167).

  171. 171.

    Jasper Mührel, ‘All That Glitters Is Not Gold: The German Constitutional Court’s Climate Ruling and the Protection of Persons Beyond German Territory Against Climate Change Impacts’ Völkerrechtsblog (3 May 2021) < https://voelkerrechtsblog.org/all-that-glitters-is-not-gold/ > accessed 31 August 2023.

  172. 172.

    Richard JT Klein, Guy F Midgley and Benjamin L Preston, ‘Adaptation Opportunities, Constraints, and Limits’ in Christopher B Field and others (eds), Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability (Contributions of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) (CUP 2014) 907.

  173. 173.

    GFCC, 1 BvR 2656/18, para 180.

  174. 174.

    ‘“Historic” German Ruling Says Climate Goals Not Tough Enough’ The Guardian (29 April 2021) < https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/29/historic-german-ruling-says-climate-goals-not-tough-enough > accessed 31 August 2023.

  175. 175.

    GFCC, 1 BvR 2656/18, para 148.

  176. 176.

    Press Release No. 31/2021 of 29 April 2021 in English; see also GFCC, 1 BvR 2656/18, para 48.

  177. 177.

    GFCC, 1 BvR 2656/18, para 183.

  178. 178.

    Article 20a of the German Basic Law reads: “Mindful also of its responsibility towards future generations, the state shall protect the natural foundations of life and animals by legislation and, in accordance with law and justice, by executive and judicial action, all within the framework of the constitutional order.”.

  179. 179.

    GFCC, 1 BvR 2656/18, para 197.

  180. 180.

    Peter Häberle, ‘“The Open Society of Constitutional Interpreters” – A Contribution to a Pluralistic and “Procedural” Constitutional Interpretation (1975)’ in Markus Kotzur (ed), Peter Häberle on Constitutional Theory (Nomos/Hart 2018) 131.

  181. 181.

    GFCC, 1 BvR 2656/18, para 51.

  182. 182.

    „Böse Zungen nennen das Verfassungslyrik“ —Interview with Georg Oswald (Deutschlandfunk, 29 July 2019) < https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/jurist-oswald-ueber-klimaschutz-im-grundgesetz-boese-zungen.1008.de.html?dram:article_id=455043 > accessed 31 August 2023.

  183. 183.

    Paul Craig, ‘Constitutions, Constitutionalism, and the European Union’ (2001) 7 European Law Journal 125, 126.

  184. 184.

    Edith Brown Weiss, ‘International Law in a Kaleidoscopic World’ (2011) 1 Asian Journal of International Law 21, 25.

  185. 185.

    It is less clear how a constitution in the thick sense should be defined but some characteristics could serve for a definition. A constitution in the thick sense (1) incorporates the constitution in the thin sense by establishing and structuring the main organs, (2) it is stable, (3) it is written, (4) it is superior law, (5) it is justiciable, (6) it is entrenched, and (7) it expresses a common ideology, see Joseph Raz, ‘On the Authority and Interpretation of Constitutions: Some Preliminaries’ in Larry Alexander (ed), Constitutionalism: Philosophical Foundations (CUP 1998) 152–3.

  186. 186.

    Bodansky (n 34).

  187. 187.

    Ibid 578; on the small ‘c’ and big ‘C’ constitutionalism, see Matthias Kumm, ‘The Cosmopolitan Turn in Constitutionalism: On the Relationship between Constitutionalism in and beyond the State’ in Jeffrey L Dunoff and Joel P Trachtman (eds), Ruling the World? Constitutionalism, International Law and Global Government (CUP 2009) 260; Neil Walker, ‘Big “C” or Small “c”?’ (2006) 12 European Law Journal 12.

  188. 188.

    Bodansky (n 34) 578.

  189. 189.

    Ibid.

  190. 190.

    Gavin W Anderson, ‘Societal Constitutionalism, Social Movements, and Constitutionalism from Below’ (2013) 20 Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies 881.

  191. 191.

    Louis J Kotzé, ‘Arguing Global Environmental Constitutionalism’ (2012) 1 Transnational Environmental Law 199, 204 (citations omitted).

  192. 192.

    Anne van Aaken, ‘Defragmentation of Public International Law Through Interpretation: A Methodological Proposal’ (2009) 16 Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies 483, 487.

  193. 193.

    Margarita Pavlova, Technology and Vocational Education for Sustainable Development (Springer 2009) 33.

  194. 194.

    It has to be noted that Tushnet uses the terms ‘thin’ and ‘thick’ oppositely, see Mark Tushnet, Taking the Constitution Away from the Courts (Princeton University Press 1999) 9–14; also Uwe Volkmann, ‘Der Aufstieg der Verfassung: Beobachtungen zum grundlegenden Wandel des Verfassungsbegriffs’ in Thomas Vesting and Stefan Korioth (eds), Der Eigenwert des Verfassungsrechts (Mohr Siebeck 2011) 28.

  195. 195.

    Jürgen Habermas, ‘A Political Constitution for the Pluralist World Society?’ in Jürgen Habermas (ed), Between Naturalism and Religion: Philosophical Essays (Polity Press 2008) 328.

  196. 196.

    Frank I Michelman, ‘The Constitution, Social Rights, and Liberal Political Justification’ (2003) 1 International Journal of Constitutional Law 13, 13, quoting S v. Acheson 1991 (2) SA 805 (Nm), 813A–B (1991 NR 1, 10A–B) (Mahomed AJ). (‘The Constitution of a nation is not simply a statute which mechanically defines the structures of government and the relations between the government and the governed.’)

  197. 197.

    David Boyd, The Environmental Rights Revolution: A Global Study of Constitutions, Human Rights, and the Environment (UBC Press 2011).

  198. 198.

    Donald S Lutz, ‘Thinking About Constitutionalism at the Start of the Twenty-First Century’ (2000) 30 Publius: The Journal of Federalism 115, 128.

  199. 199.

    Louis J Kotzé, Global Environmental Constitutionalism in the Anthropocene (Bloomsbury Publishing 2016) 48ff.

  200. 200.

    Hans Vorländer, ‘Constitutions as Symbolic Orders’ in Paul Blokker and Chris Thornhill (eds), Sociological Constitutionalism (CUP 2017) 226.

  201. 201.

    Jürgen Habermas, Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy (Polity Press 1996) 156; Vorländer (n 200) 225.

  202. 202.

    Habermas, Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy (n 201) 160.

  203. 203.

    Peter Häberle, ‘Grundrechte und parlamentarische Gesetzgebung im Verfassungsstaat—Das Beispiel des deutschen Grundgesetzes’ (1989) 114 Archiv des öffentlichen Rechts 361, 362 (tr the author); see also Jordi Jaria-Manzano and Susana Borràs, ‘Introduction to the Research Handbook on Global Climate Constitutionalism’ in Jordi Jaria-Manzano and Susana Borràs (eds), Research Handbook on Global Climate Constitutionalism (Edward Elgar Publishing 2019) 6.

  204. 204.

    Ulrich Haltern, ‘Internationales Verfassungsrecht? Anmerkungen zu einer kopernikanischen Wende’ (2003) 128 Archiv des öffentlichen Rechts 511, 532–6.

  205. 205.

    Peters, ‘The Merits of Global Constitutionalism’ (n 36) 400.

  206. 206.

    Philip Allott, ‘Reconstituting Humanity—New International Law’ (1992) 3 European Journal of International Law 219, 225.

  207. 207.

    Ibid.

  208. 208.

    Louis J Kotzé, ‘The Conceptual Contours of Environmental Constitutionalism’ (2015) 21 Widener Law Review 187, 198.

  209. 209.

    Volkmann (n 194) 32.

  210. 210.

    See, for example, Jürgen Habermas, ‘The Postnational Constellation and the Future of Democracy’ in Jürgen Habermas and Max Pensky (eds), The Postnational Constellation: Political Essays (Polity Press 2001) 74.

  211. 211.

    Kotzé, Global Environmental Constitutionalism in the Anthropocene (n 199) 52.

  212. 212.

    George Anastaplo, ‘Constitutionalism and the Good: Explorations’ (2003) 70 Tennessee Law Review 738, 738.

  213. 213.

    Lutz (n 198) 133.

  214. 214.

    A comprehensive discussion is provided by T Olaf Corry, ‘Global Civil Society and Its Discontents’ (2006) 17 Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations 303, referring inter alia to Bartelson, ‘On the redundancy of civil society’, in Jan Hallenberg, Bertil Nygren and Alexa Robertson (eds), Transitions. In Honour of Kjell Goldmann (Stockholm University 2003) 111; see also Jean L Cohen, Globalization and Sovereignty: Rethinking Legality, Legitimacy, and Constitutionalism (CUP 2012) 44.

  215. 215.

    Alex Schwartz, ‘Patriotism or Integrity? Constitutional Community in Divided Societies’ (2011) 31 Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 503, 504.

  216. 216.

    Neil Walker, ‘Taking Constitutionalism beyond the State’ (2008) 56 Political Studies 519, 531.

  217. 217.

    Ibid.

  218. 218.

    Ibid.

  219. 219.

    Joel P Trachtman, ‘Constitutional Economics of the World Trade Organization’ in Jeffrey L Dunoff and Joel P Trachtman (eds), Ruling the World? Constitutionalism, International Law and Global Government (CUP 2009) 227.

  220. 220.

    Ibid 228.

  221. 221.

    Emmerich-Fritsche (n 23) 631.

  222. 222.

    Ibid 640.

  223. 223.

    Ibid 633.

  224. 224.

    Habermas, Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy (n 201) 500.

  225. 225.

    Habermas, ‘The Postnational Constellation and the Future of Democracy’ (n 210) 74.

  226. 226.

    Häberle, ‘The Open Society of Constitutional Interpreters’ (n 180) 147.

  227. 227.

    Volkmann (n 194) 29.

  228. 228.

    Häberle, ‘The Open Society of Constitutional Interpreters’ (n 180) 147; Peter Häberle, Die Verfassung des Pluralismus (Athenäum 1980) 89.

  229. 229.

    Roland Bieber and Markus Kotzur, ‘Strukturprinzipen der EU-Verfassung’ in Roland Bieber and others (eds), Die Europäische Union (14th edn, Nomos 2020) 109; Paul Schiff Berman, ‘Global Legal Pluralism’ (2007) 80 Southern California Law Review 1155, 1161.

  230. 230.

    Häberle, ‘The Open Society of Constitutional Interpreters’ (n 180) 147.

  231. 231.

    Häberle, Die Verfassung des Pluralismus (n 228) 58.

  232. 232.

    Bieber and Kotzur (n 229) 108–9.

  233. 233.

    Häberle, ‘The Open Society of Constitutional Interpreters’ (n 180) 148.

  234. 234.

    Peter Häberle, ‘Verfassungsinterpretation als öffentlicher Prozeß—ein Pluralismuskonzept (1978)’, Verfassung als öffentlicher Prozeß: Materialien zu einer Verfassungstheorie der offenen Gesellschaft (1st edn, Duncker & Humblot 1978) 141.

  235. 235.

    Peter Häberle, ‘Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit in der offenen Gesellschaft’ in Robert Chr van Ooyen and Martin HW Möllers (eds), Handbuch Bundesverfassungsgericht im politischen System (2nd edn, Springer VS 2015) 40.

  236. 236.

    Bodansky (n 34) 579–80.

  237. 237.

    Philippe Sands and Jacqueline Peel, Principles of International Environmental Law (4th edn, CUP 2018) 217ff.

  238. 238.

    Carol G Gould, Interactive Democracy. The Social Roots of Global Justice (CUP 2014) 99.

  239. 239.

    Ibid 119–20.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hamburg, Germany

    Manuela Niehaus

Authors
  1. Manuela Niehaus
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Manuela Niehaus .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Niehaus, M. (2023). Climate Justice and Transnational Climate Constitutionalism. In: Global Climate Constitutionalism “from below”. Springer, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-43191-4_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-43191-4_4

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Wiesbaden

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-658-43190-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-658-43191-4

  • eBook Packages: Social Science and Law (German Language)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation