Popular climate action and procedural effectiveness

a critical review of the literature and judicial practice

Abstract

Climate litigation, a set of legal and administrative actions on climate change, has become a strategy in Brazilian judicial practice. However, there is a noticeable lack of discussion on procedural effectiveness in the literature, which could become procedural obstacles for climate litigation. In this sense, this article aims to investigate the limitations and potential of Popular Action as a procedural mechanism for Brazilian climate litigation, adopting as a premise the need to reinterpret the institution. The results point to an uncritical discussion of the procedural system and cases brought under the Popular Climate Action that ran into procedural issues or were decided by agreement between the parties. The article uses bibliographic and documentary research techniques and analyzes cases of Popular Action based on the climate litigation platform of the Law, Environment, and Justice in the Anthropocene Research Group (JUMA) at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). The main conclusions of the study point to the importance of a contemporary view of the separation of powers, a set of procedural techniques appropriate for the protection of rights, and an understanding of the rights agenda in addressing climate change, such as the existence of a fundamental climate-related right, the urgency of adopting measures, and the importance of defending the rights of children and adolescents and the interests of future generations.