State Responsibility for Climate Change Damages

Maciej Nyka

Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Gdansk , Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0786-7785


Abstract

The state’s liability for damages in the field of climate change remains one of those areas of international law that has not yet been comprehensively regulated. At present, the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage, specific to the norms of international climate law, is not an alternative to the general principles of international law regulating responsibility and compensation issues of the states in the sphere of international climate law. The application of customary international legal mechanisms of responsibility of states in relation to climate damage can be a kind of challenge. Both the damage itself and elements such as causation or the possibility of attributing responsibility to the state pose a significant challenge in the sphere of climate protection. On the other hand, it is impossible not to notice that properly applied norms of general international law make it possible to overcome the difficulties arising from the specificity of the responsibility of countries for climate change. The latest jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice in environmental matters creates a framework for the settlement and implementation of possible liability for damages in the area of ​​climate change.

Keywords:

climate change, climate liability, state responsibility, climate change damages

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Published
2021-06-16


Nyka, M. (2021). State Responsibility for Climate Change Damages. Review of European and Comparative Law, 45(2), 131–152. https://doi.org/10.31743/recl.12246

Maciej Nyka  maciej.nyka@prawo.ug.edu.pl
Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Gdansk

Dr. habil. Maciej Nyka, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Gdansk; correspondence address: ul. Bażyńskiego 6, 80-980 Gdańsk, Poland; e-mail: maciej.nyka@ug.edu.pl; https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0786-7785.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0786-7785