Professor Otto Spijkers
Wuhan University
Climate Litigation
Wuhan University
Climate Litigation
Otto Spijkers is professor of international law at Wuhan University’s China Institute of Boundary and Ocean Studies as well as its Research Institute of Environmental Law. He is also the managing editor of the Chinese Journal of Environmental Law. Prior to joining Wuhan University, he worked at the Utrecht Centre for Water, Oceans and Sustainability Law and Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea of Utrecht University, Netherlands. He was visiting lecturer inter alia at Peking University Law School, Xiamen University’s China International Water Law Programme, the Università degli Studi di Salerno (Italy), and the Université Catholique d’Afrique Centrale (Yaoundé, Cameroon). He wrote his doctoral dissertation, entitled The United Nations, the Evolution of Global Values and International Law, at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies of Leiden University. He has published over a hundred articles and books. A full list can be found on the ORCID-page: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4384-314X. |
Lecture: The lecture is available here. A written version is available here. The List: Professor Spijkers will join the discussion list for the Guest Speaker Program from March 7-13. You can access the list here. Tune In: Schedule of Speakers for Spring 2022 Overview of the Lecture This lecture reflects critically on the actual and potential influence of climate litigation on the way the “who should do what” question in managing climate change risks is addressed, with a focus on climate litigation undertaken in the Netherlands. The Netherlands is a particularly interesting case study, because legal proceedings have been initiated, first against a State, and then also against a multinational corporation. A foundation called Urgenda initiated proceedings against the State of the Netherlands; followed by Milieudefensie (“Friends of the Earth Netherlands”) initiating proceedings against a multinational oil corporation headquartered in the Netherlands, i.e., Shell. This presentation will look at both these examples of climate litigation and discusses how they have the potential to serve as foundation for global climate law, i.e., how this litigation strategy can be copied all over the world. |