A human right to climate protection – Necessary protection or human rights proliferation?

Abstract

In recent years, climate change has presented itself as a new challenge to human rights dogmatism. The present contribution examines the hurdles caused by interpreting existing regional and international human rights standards in the context of climate change, with particular reference to issues of causality, attribution, standing, and extraterritorial jurisdiction. As climate change does not neatly fit into present human rights categories, and progressive interpretation bears the risk of arbitrary and unjust results as well as overstretching the rules of interpretation, this article makes a case for an autonomous human right to climate protection without, however, losing sight of the risks of concomitant human rights overreach. It argues that a new human right to climate protection would respond to basic human needs and could allow for establishing clear legal standards that have the potential to strengthen human rights protection and secure pre-existing rights.