One million for research into the role of health in legal climate action at Groningen University and Columbia University 

Climate change has major consequences for our health. Extreme heat, air pollution, extreme weather events, and infectious diseases can cause serious health issues and place increasing strain on public health systems.

Researchers from the Groningen Centre for Health Law at the University of Groningen and the Sabin Centre for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School combine their expertise to investigate how health arguments and scientific evidence play a role in legal climate action.

The 1 million euro project is funded by Wellcome and led by Marlies Hesselman, Chair of the Groningen Centre for Health Law (PI), and Michael Burger, Executive Director of the Sabin Centre, at the Sabin Centre.

The project studies legal cases worldwide, with particular attention to countries where communities whose health has been disproportionately affected by climate and health issues.

Health increasingly a feature of climate cases

The health impacts of climate change have long played a role in legal action to address climate change. Examples cited include heat-related illnesses, respiratory conditions, changes in infectious diseases, and other adverse health impacts, such as mental health. Furthermore, the link between climate change and specific health effects is being increasingly well-supported by scientific evidence.

The researchers aim to identify how health-related arguments and evidence are used in the courtroom, by whom, and in what types of legal proceedings. They will also examine how judges deal with scientific uncertainty and how scientific knowledge is translated into legal arguments.

The research is of importance to, amongst others, judges, lawyers, health professionals and civil society organisations involved in climate cases. It may also provide insight into how people and communities disproportionately affected by climate change can legally substantiate their interests.

Greater insight into thousands of climate cases

The project builds on and reinforces the work of the Climate and Health team at the Groningen Centre for Health Law under the lead of Hesselman, including for The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change. For this project Groningen-based researchers Marlies Hesselman, Monique van Cauwenberghe and David Patterson previously developed an indicator that measures in detail how physical and mental health plays a role in climate litigation. Van Cauwenberghe will continue as a researcher on the new research project. 

A key component of the project will be the further development of the Sabin Centre’s Climate Litigation Database. This is a leading international resource for tracking climate litigation worldwide, containing more than 4,000 climate cases from over 55 countries. The researchers aim to enable users to search specifically for health-related topics within the database.

Ultimately, this research aims to contribute to stronger legal protections for human and public health in the face of climate change.