Brazil and Climate Justice

Maria Antonia Tigre is the Director of Global Climate Litigation at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School (United States). Armando Rocha is a Professor of International Law, Law of the Sea, and Climate Change Law at Universidade Católica Portuguesa and researcher at the Católica Research Centre for the Future of the Law (Portugal). Délton Winter de Carvalho is the Director of the Environmental Law Program at UNISINOS (Brazil).

[T]his volume offers a fresh and vital perspective by turning a focused lens on a country that occupies a paradoxical position in the global climate landscape....This collection edited by Maria Antonia Tigre, Armando Rocha, and Délton Winter de Carvalho brings into view a compelling and often underexplored arena of the global struggle for climate justice and accountability.-Antoine De Spiegeleir, in Human Rights Law Review, Volume 25, Issue 4, December 2025In terms of climate litigation, Brazil is not only the leading country in the Global South, but one of the leading countries in the world. The path-breaking interpretation of the Paris Agreement as a human rights treaty by the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court has the potential to reshape litigation globally. Today, climate litigation in Brazil is burgeoning and spawning new legal theories and legal strategies. Yet developments in Brazil remain virtually unknown to most European and American scholars. This book will be an invaluable resource, not only for those scholars, but for lawyers and judges in Brazil, the rest of Latin America, and elsewhere.Dan Farber, Sho Sato Professor of Law & Faculty Director, Center for Law, Energy & the Environment, University of California, BerkeleyClimate Change Litigation in Brazil offers a comprehensive examination of the growing field of climate litigation within Brazil, positioning the country as a critical player in the global climate governance landscape. Written by a dream team of Brazilian practitioners and scholars, the book delves into the significant role of Brazil in tackling climate change due to its unique status as both a major greenhouse gas emitter and a custodian of vital ecosystems, like the Amazon rainforest. The book explores Brazil's judicial system's increasing engagement with climate-related cases, focusing on human rights, biodiversity protection, and just transition. By analyzing groundbreaking rulings from Brazilian courts and drawing connections to global trends, this book highlights how legal strategies and court activism in Brazil are shaping national and international climate action efforts. It's an essential resource for anyone interested in understanding how legal systems in the Global South, particularly Brazil, are responding to the urgent challenge of climate change.Joana Setzer, Associate Professorial Research Fellow, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)Brazil is the most biodiverse country in the world. We have an environmentalist Constitution that is mindful of future generations. Nevertheless, we experienced a period of anti-environmental state management from 2019 to 2022, accompanied by an increase in climate litigation. This book on climate litigation in Brazil delves into the Brazilian experience, exploring the potential benefits of judicial action while critically examining the separation of powers and the rights of the most vulnerable people affected by extreme climate events. It offers an excellent opportunity to understand climate litigation in the Global South, with its unique characteristics, and to ensure that the Paris Agreement is strategically implemented through court action. Mariana Cirne, Full Professor of the Stricto Sensu Postgraduate Program in Constitutional Law at the Instituto Brasileiro de Ensino, Desenvolvimento e Pesquisa (IDP) and Chief Prosecutor of the Brazilian National Attorney's Office for Climate and Environmental Defense

• ForewordAcknowledgmentsList of FiguresList of TablesList of AbbreviationsList of Contributors1 Climate Change Litigation in Brazil: an IntroductionMaria Antonia Tigre, Armando Rocha and Délton Winter de CarvalhoSection 1: Challenges in Climate Litigation in Brazil2 A Panorama of Climate Litigation in BrazilDanielle de Andrade Moreira3 The Separation of Powers Principle and the Role of Different Bodies in Climate ActionEnéas Xavier de Oliveira Junior and Letícia Simo Veras4 The Role of Science in Climate LitigationJuliana de AugustinisSection 2Climate Litigation and Human Rights5 Recognizing the Paris Agreement as a Human Rights Treaty: the Climate Fund Case and Brazilian CourtsCarolina de Figueiredo Garrido6 The Obligation to Protect the Stability of the Climate System under the Right to a Healthy Environment in BrazilDélton Winter de Carvalho and Armando Rocha7 Brazil and Advisory Opinions before International Courts and Tribunals: Participation and Impact of Advisory Opinions in Domestic CourtsPaula Wojcikiewicz Almeida8 Access to Justice and Climate Litigation in BrazilLuciana Gross Cunha and Maria Cecília de Araujo AspertiSection 3: Climate Litigation and Vulnerabilities9 Vulnerabilities in Climate Litigation: the Role of Gender, Race, and PovertyMariana Belmont and Nauê Bernardo Pinheiro de Azevedo10 Decolonizing Climate Litigation: an Analysis of Indigenous Climate Litigation in BrazilGabriel Mantelli, Maurício Terena, Isabela Bicalho and Marie-Louise Siemons11 Future Generations and Climate Litigation in BrazilLuciana BauerSection 4: Climate Litigation and Biodiversity12 The Protection of the Marine Environment Through Litigation in the Context of the Climate Crisis in BrazilJulia Cirne Lima Weston13 The Protection of the Amazon Forest as a Central Aspect of Climate MitigationMaria Antonia Tigre and Anna Maria Cárcamo14 The Rights of Nature: Another Legal Avenue for Climate Litigation in Brazil?Fernanda Cavedon-Capdeville, José Rubens Morato Leite, Humberto Filpi and Tônia DutraSection 5: Beyond the State: Climate Litigation and the Energy Transition15 The Role of Financial Institutions in Climate Litigation in BrazilAlessandra Lehmen16 The State’s Duty to Pursue the Highest Possible AmbitionGuilherme J.S. Leal 17 Climate Damage and Tort Law in Brazilian Climate LitigationRafaela Martins da Rosa18 Just Transition Litigation in BrazilLuiz Ormay JrAppendix 1: Table of CasesIndex