Remedies and Enforcement in Corporate Climate Cases

Climate change litigation (CCL) against corporations is becoming common in practice. Plain-tiffs in these corporate CCL cases primarily seek two types of remedies: injunctions, which are mainly pursued in climate mitigation cases, and compensation, which is pursued in cli-mate adaptation and loss-and-damage cases. In this paper, we examine the legal remedies claimed in corporate CCL cases and analyse their potential to influence corporate emissions behaviour and compensate (potential) climate victims. We highlight the various challenges associated with climate litigation, in particular sufficient interest, standing, and causation issues. We also discuss the enforcement and effectiveness concerns surrounding such corpo-rate climate actions. It is noted that cross-border enforcement and corporate insolvency risks could raise concerns about enforcing a corporate CCL. The effectiveness of the remedies claimed in CCL cases, particularly those involving mitigation injunctions, may be challenged by market substitution, drop-in-the-ocean, waterbed, and carbon leakage arguments. More-over, there are concerns regarding adequate compensation and deterrence in these cases. Nevertheless, these concerns will not affect the capacity of corporate CCL to reshape corpo-rate behaviour and drive the adoption of more ambitious climate policies.