Protecting the Public Interest in Times of Climate Change: From Abandoning Fossil Fuel to Sharing our Earth: Tenth Annual T.M.C. Asser Lecture

“Fossil fuels are the biggest contributor to climate change, which, in turn, is the key driver of all other environmental problems, such as changing hydrological patterns, biodiversity loss, as well as air, water and soil pollution. All of this is detrimental to human health and wellbeing. Scholars argue that a global temperature increase of 1°C is the just objective and that the global system must accelerate the phase-out of fossil fuels to prevent significant harm to people and irreversible harm to Earth’s life-supporting systems. This lecture will discuss the need for abandoning fossil fuel, why it’s not happening, and how this can be countered by social movements and independent courts providing access to climate justice. It then discusses the bigger picture of crossed planetary boundaries. Research into ‘just boundaries’ shows we must accelerate multilateralism, not retreat into nationalist rights to pollute. When resources are scarce, three rational actor responses often emerge: neo-liberal capitalist, hegemonic state-centered, and polycentric approaches. However, only a social practice model building on multilateral goals and principles, institutionalised in a possible global Constitution, could help us address our dire situation. Though seemingly impossible today, in five years, the world may call for such a dream.”