Climate Change Reports

What's New

Homepage Tabs

31 January 2019
Environmental Rule of Law: First Global Report

The report individuates the governance system of various countries and simultaneously presses upon the conditional differences in various aspects of Environmental Management.

23 November 2018
Asia Pacific Judicial Colloquium on Climate Change - Using Constitutions to Advance Environmental Rights and Achieve Climate Justice: Meeting Report and Materials

On 26 and 27 February 2018, the Asia Pacific Judicial Colloquium on Climate Change: Using Constitutions to advance Environmental Rights and Achieve Climate Justice was held in Lahore, Pakistan. The objective of this report is to give an overview of the colloquium and to provide training materials to help judges navigate through complex issues to achieve environmental, climate and social justice. The report includes the Lahore Action Plan, summaries of some speaker presentations, and provides a synopsis of environmental constitutionalism and selected landmark judicial decisions.

4 January 2018
Legal Readiness to Attract Climate Finance: Towards a Low-Carbon Asia and the Pacific

The Parties to the Paris Agreement have made ambitious commitments to combat climate change - both in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and climate resilience targets as well as financial targets. In their Nationally Determined Contributions, most developing countries have made their commitments conditional on receiving international financial support.

11 July 2017
Shooting Stars and Dancing Fish: A Walk to the World We Want

The book tackles the crises of environment and climate in simple and understandable language and sees these challenges as opportunities for humankind to prove its wisdom. 

31 May 2017
New Frontiers in Environmental Constitutionalism

The book examines new frontiers in the implementation of constitutional, international, and regional rights-based approaches to promote environmental protection.

31 January 2018
Framework Principles on Human Rights and the Environment: The main human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment

These framework principles set out the basic obligations of States under human rights law as they relate to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

29 February 2016
Compendium of Good Practices on Human Rights and the Environment

The purpose of this compendium is to present good practices relating to the use of human rights obligations and commitments to inform, support and strengthen environmental policymaking, especially in the area of environmental protection that were identified through a joint programme between UNEP, the Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment (formerly the Independent Expert), and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

28 February 2018
Companion to Global Judicial Handbook on Environmental Constitutionalism: Selected Cases and Materials

This handbook on environmental constitutionalism contains selected case summaries, judicial opinions, reports, maps and constitional samples from Asia Pacific, Americas and the Caribbean, Africa and Europe.

31 December 2015
Climate Change and Human Rights

This UNEP report sheds light on the human rights obligations of both governments and private actors in responding to climate change, including those relating to rights to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice, as well as obligations relating to adaption and mitigation.

30 May 2017
The Status of Climate Change Litigation: A Global Review

This report provides judges, advocates, researchers, and the international community with an of-the-moment survey of global climate change litigation, an overview of litigation trends, and descriptions of key issues that courts must resolve in the course of climate change cases. 

ADB General Counsel Clark on 2 June participated as panelist at Stockholm+50 official side event on   Judges, the Environmental Rule of Law and a Healthy Planet Since the 1972 Stockholm  Declaration: Achievements, Challenges and Opportunities.
8 June 2022
Asian Development Bank convenes global environmental leaders at Stockholm+50 Conference

Thomas Clark, General Counsel of the Asian Development Bank addressed global environmental leaders on the need to strengthen the environmental rule of law to accelerate action in addressing the triple planetary crises of climate, nature, and pollution at Stockholm+50 Conference.

Group photo from ADB's Governance Thematic Group Awards.
29 March 2019
Myanmar Conference Recognized as an Outstanding Knowledge Partnership Event

ADB’s Governance Thematic Group (GovTG) awarded the Asia-Pacific Judicial Conference on Environmental and Climate Change Adjudication, held on 29-30 October 2018 in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, as an outstanding Knowledge Partnership Event. In awarding ceremonies last 26 March 2019, the GovTG noted the many firsts and achievements of the event.

With staunch foundations and ability to adapt to the environment, redwood trees stand for centuries.
20 February 2019
Strong institutions can nourish inclusive, sustainable green growth

Just as strong roots are the foundation of strong trees, strong institutions are the foundation of strong and sustainable economies. Strong institutions—such as a transparent judiciary, a robust constitution, and explicit rules and regulations—are at the heart of all of the world’s most vibrant economies.

Group photo from the Asia Pacific Judicial Conference on Environmental and Climate Change Adjudication
13 February 2019
The Many Firsts of the Asia Pacific Judicial Conference on Environmental and Climate Change Adjudication

The Asia Pacific Judicial Conference on Environmental and Climate Change Adjudication was a continuation of the annual judicial and chief justices’ conferences organized in the ASEAN and SAARC regions since 2011 under the banner of the Asian Judges Network on Environment (AJNE). For the first time, judges from South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Pacific came together to discuss pressing environmental and climate change issues. Judges learned about solutions and success stories to environmental challenges from around the world and explored their role in the age of climate change litigation. 

Riverfront, Wilmington, Delaware
31 January 2019
International Legal Scholars Academy, Widener University Delaware Law School - Juciciary, Practitoners, and Law Students

Delaware Law School presents its 2019 International Legal Scholars Academy for Judiciary, Practitioners, and Law Students. Our one-week immersion program offers an opportunity to explore U.S. legal concepts and various current topics. Participants receive an educational and cultural experience and collaborate with judges and scholars from around the globe.

19 October 2021
Emerging Climate Change Risks for Companies and Financial Institutions

The webinar will shed light on the emerging climate change risks for companies and financial institutions in ADB developing member countries. 

7 October 2021
Climate Change and Courts

A renowned panel of experts will shed light on the unique challenges, tools, resources, and knowledge-sharing opportunities that judges face in climate change cases. Participants will comprise judges and representatives from judicial academies and schools, multilateral development banks, academia, and legal communities.

9 - 11 December 2020
Asia-Pacific Judicial Conference on Climate Change: Adjudication in the Time of COVID-19

The emergence of COVID-19 has brought major challenges to all peoples of the world in unexpected ways. Many point to our unabated abuse of nature as the underlying cause of this pandemic. It has amplified numerous existing challenges such as weak health institutions and lack of social protection for the most vulnerable. It has also added to the already alarming issue of rapid climate change, presenting more complexities for the processes of adjudication and the achievement of climate justice.

7 - 8 October 2019
Asia-Pacific Judicial Conference on Climate Change Adjudication: Trends and Impacts

The conference is a continuation of the annual gathering of AJNE Chief Justices, senior judges, legal and multi-disciplinary experts, and environment and climate change advocates, which began in 2011; and will be the first one to be held in the Pacific region.

14 - 16 March 2019
LAWASIA Business Law Conference 2019: Session on Environment and Climate Change | The Climate of Business is Changing: Are you Keeping Abreast?

This conference highlights the importance of keeping abreast of legal developments in the various Asian countries. At the same time, the event underscores the value of preserving and promoting the Rule of Law in order to ensure the sanctity of contract and the predictability of outcome of legal cases. 

 

Climate change is the defining challenge of our time. Without urgent climate action, humanity faces a world that cannot sustain civilization as we know it. People around the globe are demanding action, some with climate litigation. Climate Change, Coming Soon to a Court Near You is a flagship publication series of the Law and Policy Reform Program under the Office of the General Counsel of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). It is a four-part report series that recognizes the inevitability of increased litigation in the era of climate change and judges need a tool kit to respond.

 
Report Series Purpose and Introduction to Climate Science

Climate Change, Coming Soon to a Court Near You: Report Series Purpose and Introduction to Climate Science

Report One explains how judges from Asia and the Pacific contribute to climate governance, along with the Asian Development Bank’s rationale for producing this report series. It guides readers through some of the basics about climate change: What is causing it? How do we know? How bad might it get? What do we do about it?

 
 
Climate Litigation in Asia and the Pacific and Beyond

Climate Change, Coming Soon to a Court Near You: Climate Litigation in Asia and the Pacific and Beyond

Report Two is a comprehensive review of the growing number and variety of climate lawsuits in Asia and the Pacific. It underscores the unique flavor and voice of regional jurisprudence and compares it with global approaches. No one can solve climate change alone and neither can any particular judiciary. Judges can, however, learn from each other, taking judicial excellence and applying it to the case before them.

 
 
National Climate Change Legal Frameworks in Asia and the Pacific

Climate Change, Coming Soon to a Court Near You: National Climate Change Legal Frameworks in Asia and the Pacific

Report Three provides holistic syntheses of the climate legal and policy frameworks of 32 countries in Asia and the Pacific and discusses key legislative trends and climate-relevant constitutional rights.

 
 
Climate Change, Coming Soon to a Court Near You: International Climate Change Legal Frameworks

Climate Change, Coming Soon to a Court Near You: International Climate Change Legal Frameworks

Report Four explores the nature of the Paris Agreement, its history, and the framework of international instruments and international legal principles that support global and domestic climate action.