Project description DEENESFRITPL The role of courts in addressing ecological governance gaps Today, ecological degradation is increasingly linked to the subsistence of human beings. Many stakeholders flag ecological governance gaps and increasingly trigger courts to require governments and leading firms of global value chains to adopt the necessary measures to prevent or mitigate ecological risks or damages. However, there is no clarity about the role victims of ecological damage play in these proceedings. For this reason, the EU-funded CURIAE VIRIDES project will explore the progressive transformation of human rights litigation into more ecocentric litigation and the role of (activist) courts. It will study how social litigation is greening, its consequences for victims of ecological damages, and the quality of ecocentric judgements. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective This project conceptualises the worldwide progressive transformation of human rights litigation into more ecocentric litigation and the emerging but important role of (activist) courts in addressing ecological governance gaps. In addition, it will inquire how this greening of social litigation challenges the legal concept of attribution of liability in transnational lawsuits and influences access to effective remedy for victims of transnational ecological harms. The main hypothesis is that ecocentric lawsuits mostly seek to nudge the choice architects of ecological governance, i.e. policymakers and global value chain (GVCs) coordinating firms, to implement effective actions for the sustainability of ecosystems while not necessarily seeking concrete remedies for victims. Although the effectiveness of this activism could be questioned by considering that only a minority of transnational ecological conflicts become lawsuits, ecocentric case law has nevertheless the ability to nudge ecologically responsible behaviour of policymakers and firms. The project will inquire how this instrumentalist use of the judiciary may hide the necessary debate on the quality of ecocentric case law as courts lack technical knowledge on ecological and economic issues and on the type of remedies actual or potential victims (e.g. future generations) can obtain from ecocentric judgments. The combination of systematic (quantitative and qualitative) empirical analysis of global data should lead to a high gain project that sheds light on the transformation of social claims, on the synergies among social and judicial activism and soft law production and implementation, on the institutional quality of courts to understand global ecological and economic conflicts, on the patterns of innovative ecocentric case law, on whether triggering courts contributes to filling ecological governance gaps, and on whether this has (or not) a waterfall effect on access to remedy for victims of ecological harm. Fields of science social sciencessociologygovernancenatural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystemssocial scienceslawconstitutional lawsocial scienceslawhuman rights Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2020-STG - ERC STARTING GRANTS Call for proposal ERC-2020-STG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-STG - Starting Grant Host institution VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL Net EU contribution € 1 336 875,00 Address PLEINLAAN 2 1050 Bruxelles / Brussel Belgium See on map Region Région de Bruxelles-Capitale/Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest Région de Bruxelles-Capitale/ Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest Arr. de Bruxelles-Capitale/Arr. Brussel-Hoofdstad Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 336 875,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL Belgium Net EU contribution € 1 336 875,00 Address PLEINLAAN 2 1050 Bruxelles / Brussel See on map Region Région de Bruxelles-Capitale/Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest Région de Bruxelles-Capitale/ Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest Arr. de Bruxelles-Capitale/Arr. Brussel-Hoofdstad Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 336 875,00