The CLAIM research project (ARC, 2025-2030) is an interdisciplinary initiative that examines the role and practices of marginalized actors (i.e. small island states, indigenous communities, and citizens of countries referred to as “Global South”) in international climate litigation. Three disciplines are engaged in the project: law, political science, and information and communication science, to move beyond a purely technical analysis of law and to consider power dynamics, discursive strategies, and interactions among various stakeholders that shape each stage of litigation.
The CLAIM project aims to provide a multifaceted perspective on climate litigation by developing methodologies inspired by decolonial approaches, to interrogate the knowledge production stemming from the Global North universities and to draw upon the lived experiences of actors themselves. Thus, throughout the project, the focus will be on establishing processes of co-construction, humility, and respect with the involved stakeholders.
Our research question
The project seeks to answer this structuring question: how do marginalised actors mobilise international climate litigation against public entities to foster the construction of climate justice at the supranational level?
This question invites to unfold the configurations of actors (marginalised entities, states, political figures, etc.) involved in climate litigation, illuminating the inner workings of these cases as arenas of legal, political, and communicational interplay.
The following interconnected issues will be explored:
1) The roles played by marginalised actors in the emergence and implementation of supranational climate litigation. This issue aims at examining the practices, strategies, and discourses they use to make their voices heard in international contexts, often characterised by asymmetrical power relations.
2) By aggregating several case studies and litigation arenas, to contribute to understanding the conditions for climate justice. The analysis addresses both the concrete results (the substance of the rulings, the political declarations, the narratives) and the participatory dynamics (the inclusion and representation of marginalised actors in all three dimensions). It also explores the way in which international climate litigation may challenge or reinforce dominant power relations, which are often shaped by the interests and perspectives of the Global North.
A connected project: the Rosa Parks Law Clinic at UCLouvain
The CLAIM projet has strong links with the Rosa Parks Law Clinic.
This Law Clinic offers UCLouvain law master’s students the opportunity to dedicate their final thesis to the cause of human rights. Beyond academic research, students contribute to the provision of legal services and to making the law more accessible through the creation of informational brochures, documentaries, and plays. The Clinic thus includes an Art & Law section. Led by Claire-Marie Lievens, who is also the co-director of Magic Land Theatre, students participate in the production of mock trials, with a play currently being written on the commons and the rights of nature.
This theme aligns with one of the clinic’s thematic priorities: environmental protection and climate change. Several cohorts of students have thus supported the plaintiffs in the “farmer case,” which pits a Walloon farmer against the French fossil fuel multinational TotalEnergies over damages suffered due to climate change. The case is still ongoing, but the trial judge has already confirmed his jurisdiction, as well as the admissibility of the claim and the applicability of Belgian law.
The clinical approach is therefore grounded in the principles of ethical service learning. Both students and faculty are constantly encouraged to reflect on their positionality in implementing a human rights-based approach, as well as on the origins of the knowledge they receive and convey.
To learn more about the Rosa Parks Legal Clinic: https://www.uclouvain.be/fr/facultes/drt/rosa-parks-law-clinic