Sui limiti – giurisdizionalmente imposti – all’emissione di gas serra: i giudici olandesi diventano i “front-runners” nella lotta ai cambiamenti climatici

By commenting the latest 2019 decision of the Dutch Supreme Court in the Urgenda case, the present work focuses on how litigants may turn to human rights law instruments to pursue environmental public interest litigation goals, if the relevant municipal legal framework is suited to that end. The analysis shows that despite a national approach towards international law which may increase the likelihood of positive outcomes of such proceedings, domestic courts are still required efforts to construct State liability as separate branches of international law, i.e. environmental law and human rights law, must be integrated to determine the extent of the State’s obligation. An operation that, if not under the methodological point of view, could in given circumstances pave the way to critiques based on the separation of powers between judiciary and the government to the extent the former obliges the latter in respecting judicially imposed limits in environmental matters.