Short Online Course on Corporate Climate Litigation
This open-access course was developed by the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL), in collaboration with members of the project's International Expert Group. It supports learning and capacity-building on corporate climate litigation. Open access | Approx. 4 hours | 22 short sessions | Self-paced
Course sessions
Each session builds on the last — start at the beginning, or jump to the topic you need.
01◷ 13:18Legal Standing in Chilean Litigation: Environmental Damages in Chile
Examines Chile's specialised environmental courts, environmental liability and the expansion of legal standing in cases involving climate-related harm.
Professor Pilar Moraga
02◷ 17:25Access to Justice: Standing & Justiciability
Explores how the Aarhus Convention can address access to justice, standing and justiciability in environmental and corporate climate litigation.
Judge Marc Clément
03◷ 07:50Human Rights in Corporate Climate Litigation
Introduces the growing use of human-rights arguments in climate litigation and the roles corporations play in human-rights-based climate cases.
Professor Annalisa Savaresi
04◷ 05:39Limits of Human-Rights-Based Corporate Climate Litigation
Assesses the structural and practical limits of applying human-rights law to corporations and climate harm.
Professor Annalisa Savaresi
05◷ 06:49Due Diligence Legislation in Corporate Climate Litigation
Explains how corporate social responsibility standards and emerging human-rights and environmental due-diligence laws can support climate claims.
Professor Annalisa Savaresi
06◷ 04:20Limits and Future of Corporate Due Diligence
Considers box-ticking risks, enforcement challenges and the contested future of corporate due-diligence legislation.
Professor Annalisa Savaresi
07◷ 06:21Human Rights in Tort Law
Explains how human rights interact with private and tort law, including their influence on standards of care and grounds for liability.
Professor Elbert de Jong
08◷ 07:34Human Rights in the Shell Climate Case
Examines the role of human rights in the Shell climate case, including corporate mitigation duties and the applicable standard of care.
Professor Elbert de Jong
09◷ 08:57Opportunities and Weaknesses of the Human Rights Turn in Climate Litigation
Evaluates the opportunities and limitations of using human-rights principles and layered legal sources in corporate climate litigation.
Professor Elbert de Jong
10◷ 20:56Climate Reporting and Directors' Duties
Explores European climate-disclosure requirements, directors' reporting duties and potential company-law liability arising from climate reporting.
Professor Sabrina Bruno
11◷ 21:09Climate Washing and Corporate Accountability
Defines climate washing, traces its relationship with greenwashing and reviews legal theories and cases used to hold corporations accountable.
Professor Randall Abate
12◷ 07:44Claims Against Corporations in African Climate Litigation
Surveys claimant arguments against corporations, including duty of care, responsibility and distinctive themes emerging from African climate cases.
Dr Omondi Owino
13◷ 08:26Procedural Defences in Corporate Climate Litigation
Reviews jurisdiction, justiciability, the political-question doctrine and local procedural rules used as corporate defences.
Nigel Pleming KC
14◷ 06:02Corporate Defences in African Climate Cases
Examines prominent corporate defences in African cases, including economic-benefit arguments, regulatory compliance and alleged absence of breach.
Dr Omondi Owino
15◷ 04:05Defending Climate Claims: A Comparative Perspective
Compares African defence strategies with approaches elsewhere, highlighting overlaps and divergences involving impact assessment, constitutional rights and climate commitments.
Dr Omondi Owino
16◷ 21:18Climate Attribution Science and Legal Causality
Explains how attribution science and multidisciplinary evidence can establish links between corporate emissions, climate change and resulting harms.
Dr Delta Merner
17◷ 21:49Evidence and Causation in Corporate Climate Litigation
Examines evidentiary and causation challenges, legally relevant climate science and information asymmetries between claimants and corporations.
Dr Kate McKenzie
18◷ 06:46Causation and Attribution in Cross-Border Litigation
Explains how corporate defendants use causation, attribution and displacement arguments in cross-border and transnational climate litigation.
Nigel Pleming KC
19◷ 23:03Pecuniary Remedies in Corporate Climate Litigation
Reviews monetary remedies for climate harm, their legal-system-specific foundations and their relationship to compensation, deterrence and distribution.
Professor Michael Faure
20◷ 16:49Non-Pecuniary Remedies in Corporate Climate Litigation
Explores injunctions, declaratory relief and other non-monetary remedies used where environmental harm cannot be adequately repaired through compensation.
Associate Professor Michael Tiu
21◷ 06:05The Future Evolution of Corporate Climate Litigation
Reflects on how corporate climate litigation, climate regulation and scientific evidence may evolve over the next five to ten years.
Nigel Pleming KC
22◷ 03:31The Future of Corporate Climate Litigation: The African Perspective
Considers how developments in policy, law, disclosure and attribution science may reshape African corporate climate claims over the next decade.
Dr Omondi Owino