Paula Andrea Nieto Hernandez

Paula Nieto is a Colombian lawyer and PhD candidate at the Erasmus University School of Philosophy. She holds an advanced master’s degree in Public International Law from Leiden University and a bachelor’s degree in law from Rosario University (Colombia). She is licensed to litigate before courts in Colombia.

Her research project, provisionally titled "Climate Justice Before Courts", is supervised by Laura Garcia-Portela and Costanze Binder. The project aims to explore the appropriate role of courts in adjudicating climate change, with a central focus on advancing climate justice.

To achieve this, the research will address several key questions that span legal, moral, and political philosophy. These questions examine the interaction between theories of adjudication and the judicial process in climate change cases, the relationship between climate adjudication and climate justice—raising crucial ethical issues—and the tension between climate adjudication and democratic governance. Rooted in continental philosophy, the project will offer political and ethical readings of legal traditions, challenging the insularity and self-contained nature of law. By bridging theory and practice, the study will analyze real-world climate litigation cases from diverse regions.

Ultimately, the project seeks to expand existing literature by re-imagining the judiciary’s role in the context of climate adjudication, moving beyond descriptive analyses to address the normative dimensions of how courts should navigate this complex, urgent issue.