In recent years, in the face of inadequate responses by governments to climate change, human rights-based climate litigation has been on the rise. Despite the heavy involvement of corporations in the climate crisis, rights-based proceedings are mainly brought against states, while corporations usually remain out of the realm of such proceedings. This creates an accountability gap since adjudicating cases only against states might prove insufficient to hold the most responsible actors to account. This Article addresses this accountability gap by putting a spotlight on the role of corporations in rights-based climate litigation.
Following an examination of the prospects and limitations of an indirect approach to this problem through proceedings brought against states, this Article proceeds to focus on the direct approach against corporations, as demonstrated in a recent landmark ruling in the Netherlands. The Article then offers a novel analysis of the innovative aspects reflected in this ruling and explores their implications with regard to the ability to enforce international human rights norms on corporations while examining the role national courts may play in the evolutionary process of re-conceptualizing international law and adjusting it to the global challenges faced by the world today.