387 19. The climate crisis: litigation and economic, social and cultural rights Siri Gloppen and Catalina Vallejo 1 1. INTRODUCTION This chapter explores the significance of climate litigation for economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR), and vice versa. Litigation has become increasingly important as a strategy to force action to address the climate crisis. Court cases have been lodged before domestic and international courts and tribunals across the globe. They have been brought to force climate mitigation policies and regulations to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmos- phere, to demand compliance with existing rules and to push for more equitable and adequate policies, both for mitigation and for climate adaptation. In this growing body of litigation, ESCR are at stake in multiple ways. Climate change poses severe threats to ecosystems and the ESCR of future generations, as well as to vulnerable groups already living whose lives and livelihoods are threatened by sea-level rise, unseasonal droughts or other climate-linked disasters and diseases. When governments build new coal plants, grant concessions for oil drilling, invest in new airport runways or fail to regulate and prevent harmful actions by the fossil fuel industry and others, this mitigation failure can be seen to constitute a risk or violation of the ESCR of current and future humans. Similarly, adaptation failure – lack of action to protect those already at risk from changes in the climate and related disasters – is a breach of their ESCR. Climate mitigation and adaptation measures may themselves also threaten ESCR. Closing of power plants and high carbon emission industries may cause loss of jobs and livelihoods, and threaten energy supplies and economic growth, which in turn makes ESCR realization more difficult; less carbon-intensive energy sources such as hydroelectric dams, windmills and soybean farms cause displacement; and deforestation-prevention programs disrupt traditional ways of life. Against this backdrop, it is not surprising that ESCR feature, in different forms and ways, in climate litigation. Climate change litigation includes lawsuits to increase coherence between states’ international commitments and declarations on climate risks and their domestic actions, as well as cases where people – not only citizens but also residents and people (at risk of being) internationally displaced due to climate change – challenge governments and fossil fuel corporations for the realization of their duties of care and protection, which are increasingly framed as human rights claims in the context of climate change. 2 In a broad sense, ESCR are at stake in all climate litigation. However, it is only the cases where ESCR are used explicitly 1 The work on this publication was supported by a grant from the University of Bergen Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation. 2 Jacqueline Peel and Hari M Osofsky, ‘A Rights Turn in Climate Change Litigation?’ (2018) 7 Transnational Environmental Law 37.