An International Law Approach to Climate Justice: Human Dignity and the Rights of Future Generations

Abstract

Climate justice today represents a high-level legal, ontological, and axiological alarm signal, situated on the threshold between the present and the future, between existing rights and responsibility towards future generations. International law, responsible for the intersection of human rights, environmental law, and sustainable development, must, in many situations, abandon the reactive paradigm and adopt the ethics of anticipation. Human dignity is the foundation of any climate regulation, implicitly extending to those who are unborn. The study re-examines the international legal regime and argues for the reconceptualisation of state and non-state responsibility.