Dr. Orla Kelleher:

It is important to emphasise that the human right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment protects both people and nature. It is not the case that rights of nature and human rights or substantive environmental rights are in conflict. They can be complementary. A big part is how they are designed. In regard to the practical impacts, a point which has not come up until now is how these rights can be used from an enforcement and accountability point of view. This is starting to take off in European climate litigation. There was a big case in Germany whereby the German constitutional court ruled for the first time on the constitutional duty of environmental protection relating to its climate act. In that instance, the emissions that were being allowed up to 2030 were deemed unconstitutional because they would result in a disproportionate interference with emissions possibilities into the future. What was quite significant there was how the court was able to link the temperature goals within the Paris Agreement to German constitutional law. That comes back to the point we discussed earlier with Deputy Whitmore about how environmental constitutional rights can be complementary to and supportive of ambitious climate action.