Kosolapova, Elena --- "Liability for Climate Change-Related Damage in Domestic Courts: Claims for Compensation in the USA" [2011] ELECD 266; in Faure, Michael; Peeters, Marjan (eds), "Climate Change Liability" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Climate Change Liability

Editor(s): Faure, Michael; Peeters, Marjan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849802864

Section: Chapter 8

Section Title: Liability for Climate Change-Related Damage in Domestic Courts: Claims for Compensation in the USA

Author(s): Kosolapova, Elena

Number of pages: 17

Extract:

8. Liability for climate change-related
damage in domestic courts: claims
for compensation in the USA1
Elena Kosolapova

1. INTRODUCTION

The past decade has seen a rise in national climate change litigation world-
wide. Notably, until today, no greenhouse gas emitter has been found
liable for climate change by any domestic court. In accordance with the
relief sought by plaintiffs, climate change case law can be roughly organ-
ised into three categories: (1) claims related to procedural injury; (2) claims
for injunctive and/or declaratory relief; and (3) claims for compensation.
In addressing procedural, and not actual, injury, procedural justice does
not offer any immediate relief to plaintiffs already suffering from injurious
effects of climate change. Injunctive relief ­ a court order requiring a party
to do, or to refrain from doing, certain acts ­ is a form of relief ultimately
related to climate change mitigation due to its preventive character; it is
unhelpful in cases concerned with the dangerous effects of climate change
that have already taken place. Thus, compensation claims become relevant
when adaptation to and remediation of the already happening climate
change is at stake. Climate change-related compensation claims are the
focus of this chapter. After a brief introduction (section 2.1), sections 2.2
to 2.4 summarize compensation claims adjudicated thus far worldwide, all
three of which have been brought in the United States. The United States
remains the only developed country without a mitigation policy based on
the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations ...