Responsabilidade Internacional dos Estados em Face às Mudanças Climáticas e os Direitos Humanos

Abstract

Global warming, an anthropogenic phenomenon that has intensified since the pre-industrial era, has emerged as a threat to Human Rights and the planet’s ecological stability. With an average global temperature increase now reaching 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels, the consequences of climate change are manifesting in an increasingly tangible and alarming way. Despite the scientific acknowledgment of the climate emergency and the need for ambitious actions, there is still a persistent resistance among some developed countries to assume concrete commitments and to implement effective policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In this regard, the overall objective of the research is to analyze, from the perspective of climate justice, the obligations of States in addressing the effects of climate change, with the aim of understanding the current scenario within International Law regarding the mechanism of direct responsibility for such violations. The specific objectives necessary for this study are to: (i) address the global manifestation of the climate crisis, with the intention of understanding its emergence and its respective consequences; (ii) discuss the relationship between the Environment and Human Rights based on their interdependence, considering how this influences the need for a new ethical approach to environmental protection; (iii) understand how International Environmental Law has been structured within the framework of Public International Law, especially in light of the phenomena of climate litigation and the greening of Human Rights protection systems; and (iv) in light of climate justice, verify the current stage of the legal regime on the international responsibility of States for damages caused by climate change. The problem, in turn, aims to identify the current level of effectiveness of the legal regime of international responsibility of States as applied to cases of violations of obligations arising from climate change under the paradigm of climate justice. The justification is mainly based on the understanding that discussing the foundations of international responsibility for environmental damage is essential, considering the enormous difficulty of concretely and operationally attributing responsibility for such damage in a global context characterized by the lack of robust coercive mechanisms that traditionally operate within the internal framework of States, coupled with the value attributed to national sovereignty. The approach used is the hypothetico-deductive method; the procedures employed are historical, comparative, and functionalist, using bibliographic techniques, documentary evidence, and analysis of secondary data, with the intention of constructing a descriptive, exploratory, and interventionist dissertation. From the post-positivist paradigm, the theoretical-philosophical frameworks used are: (i) Anthony Giddens' perspective on risk perception, alongside Zygmunt Bauman’s concept of collateral damage; (ii) the justice paradigm based on John Rawls' vision, which will underpin the understanding and discussion of climate justice; and (iii) the approaches of Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh, which deal with addressing climate crises at the intersection of Human Rights and international responsibility. The hypotheses take into account that, despite the advancement of greening Human Rights protection systems through climate litigation, the legal regime of States’ international responsibility faces critical challenges in terms of effectiveness, or that the process of greening Human Rights protection systems, evidenced by climate litigation, has broadened the interpretation of the rights to life, health, and a healthy environment, thereby strengthening the legal regime of States’ international responsibility.