论文|Yue Zhao, Shuang Lyu & Zhu Wang*. Prospects for Climate Change Litigation in China

本文原载Transnational Environmental Law,2019年第2期，由四川大学法学院赵悦副教授、四川大学法学院王竹教授等科研人员创作，系四川大学“智慧法治”超前部署学科系列学术成果。本文填补了学术界关于其他法律传统国家中政府气候变化政策对气候变化诉讼的潜在影响研究上的空白，聚焦于威权主义体制下奉行大陆法系法律传统的中国法院如何回应国家气候变化政策，以及这种回应如何影响相关法律规则并反过来促进气候变化规制，并对177起中国气候变化司法案例展开实证研究。后续会持续分享四川大学“智慧法治”超前部署学科系列学术成果，欢迎大家阅读。

Abstract: While legal scholarship seeks mainly to assess the impact of climate change litigation (CCL) on the regulatory state and on climate change policy in common law countries, the potential influence of government climate policy on the judicial practices of jurisdictions with different legal traditions attracts much less attention. This article fills the gaps by exploring how courts in China, an authoritarian country with a civil law tradition, react to government climate policies and how this judicial response might affect relevant legal rules and eventually contribute to climate regulation. An empirical analysis of 177 Chinese judicial cases reveals that CCL in China consists mostly of contract-based civil actions steered by the government’s low-carbon policies. Moreover, although the prospects of CCL against public authorities in China remain very bleak, there is scope for the emergence of tort-based CCL, backed by government policies. In this respect, recent tort-based public interest litigation on air pollution in China may serve as a substitute or, more promisingly, a gateway to the emergence of a tortbased branch of Chinese CCL.

Keywords: Climate change litigation, China, Public interest litigation, Air pollution, Climate law

Yue Zhao, Shuang Lyu & Zhu Wang*, Prospects for Climate Change Litigation in China, Transnational Environmental Law, 8:2, 1-29 (2019). (SSCI).（论文下载）