Vulnerability, Intertemporality, and Climate Litigation

The entire world is experiencing a combination of old threats and new climate-related disasters; they are perceptible in our everyday lives at an unprecedented level. The current pandemic, together with geopolitical instability, has dramatically demonstrated how exposure to multiple risks can disproportionately affect people in vulnerable situations. This article aims to explore how the international human rights framework takes into account the notion of vulnerability, with a view to moving international protection to the centre of dealing with climate change. It takes a closer look at the promises and limitations of embracing vulnerability through a study of the interpretative practice of UN treaty bodies and the evolution of domestic litigation regarding climate change. It selectively reviews how normative pathways that involve multiple interpreters could create new opportunities for defining the route along which to channel climate justice and its temporalities.