Un uso “teleologicamente orientato” della giurisdizione dei conflitti: quale lezione dalla Corte Suprema del Canada nella lotta al cambiamento climatico?

Abstract

This essay aims to analyse the role of courts in the fight against climate change. After reconstructing the

reasons that have led to the great development of climate change litigation at a global level in recent years,

attention will be focused on the rights-based model of climate litigation before some of the most important

European courts. However, it will be noted that some critical issues have prevented the jurisdiction of rights

from always responding adequately and effectively to the instances generally attributable to the more general

and complex concept of climate justice. For this reason, the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in

Reference re Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act of 25 March 2021 will be analysed as a virtuous

example of judicial intervention in the matter. Indeed, in its decision the Supreme Court, through a skillful

exercise of its jurisdiction over conflicts, was able to play an important role in the fight against climate

change, showing itself, moreover, legally attentive to the protection of the rights of a particular category of

subjects, most exposed to the disastrous consequences of the phenomenon mentioned above.