Research On The Construction Of Climate Change Litigation System In China

The world is now under the shadow of a growing climate crisis,and countries are beginning to recognise that climate change is not only an environmental issue,but also essentially a development issue.The signing of the Paris Agreement shows that governments are beginning to face up to the reality of climate change and are determined to tackle it.On 22 September 2020,General Secretary Xi Jinping formally proposed the goal of "achieving carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060" at the 75 th session of the United Nations General Assembly,and China has since then Since then,China has embarked on a new journey to address climate change.Of the many tools available to address climate change,climate change legislation has struggled to make a substantive breakthrough for the time being due to practical difficulties.In contrast,climate change litigation can have an impact on a case-by-case basis,with lower social costs and a higher error tolerance rate,and is more flexible and experimental.Although China has conducted research on issues related to climate change litigation,the lack of practical samples and the absence of a systematic theory have made it difficult for judges to consider the intrinsic links between climate,energy and related environmental protection laws in a macro manner,resulting in inconsistent standards of adjudication,which has led to a lack of functionality of climate change litigation.In view of the endogenous impetus of the "double carbon" goal and the exogenous need of the international strategic position,it is imperative to build China’s climate change litigation system.From the perspective of legislation,it should start small and expand gradually,with a diverse approach.The scope of application of the "Prevention and Control of Atmospheric Pollution Law" should be extended to cover greenhouse gases,and a specialized "Climate Change Response Law" should be formulated,ultimately constructing a legal framework for climate change response.From the perspective of rule construction,it should be designed from guiding principles,specialized causes of action,litigation subjects,causality,monitoring systems,and other aspects.From the perspective of the implementation path,China’s ecological and environmental damage compensation system specializes in relief of environmental public welfare and addressing environmental risks,and can use the ecological and environmental damage compensation litigation model to address climate change litigation and make up for the shortcomings of traditional civil and administrative public interest litigation.Despite the limited effectiveness of climate change litigation at present,as an important institutional choice for China’s response to climate change,it will contribute to the construction of China’s climate change governance system and the timely achievement of the "dual carbon" goal.