CLIMATE LITIGATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSTITUTIONALISM: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INDIA, THE GLOBAL SOUTH, AND NORTH
AUTHOR – MANAS BHONDE, STUDENT AT ILS LAW COLLEGE, PUNE
BEST CITATION – MANAS BHONDE, CLIMATE LITIGATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSTITUTIONALISM: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INDIA, THE GLOBAL SOUTH, AND NORTH, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (9) OF 2026, PG. 968-980, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344. DOI – https://doi.org/10.65393/IJLRV6I9101
Abstract
This paper analyses climate litigation and environmental constitutionalism of the Global South (India, Brazil, South Africa) alongside the Global North (EU, USA, Germany), and makes the case that differing legal frameworks constitute more profound structural inequalities of climate governance. Using case studies, the author shows that Southern courts give primacy to community-based, action-oriented claims, such as pollution being linked to the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution, while Northern systems look more to formalistic compliance with the law by pouring procedural requirements like emission targets into a statute book. At the same time, there are systemic gaps: the South has severe enforcement deficits, as evidenced by India’s National Green Tribunal’s abysmal funding, while the North has to contend with rampant legalised irresponsibility, demonstrated by Shell’s irresponsibility for the oil spills in the Niger Delta.
The research highlights developing directions– youth-driven lawsuits (Held v. Montana, 2023), Indigenous advocacy (Petition of Torres Strait Islanders to the UN), and Rights of Nature (Atrato River Case of Colombia)– that fill this gap. It recommends a hybrid approach that combines the Southern emphasis on distributive justice with Northern focus on the institutional depth, framing constitutional change (e.g. climate rights nurturing), judicial capacity development (UNEP Judicial Initiative), and transnational discourse (India’s citation of Urgenda) activism. This paper argues that courts can integrate ecological responsibility and social justice, and through this transformation, shift the focus of climate litigation to one that fosters intergenerational and interspecies justice: the eco-centric form of constitutionalism.
Keywords- Climate change litigation, Environmental constitutionalism, Global South, India, Rights of Nature, Transnational Justice.