Legal implications of the climate-health crisis: A case study analysis of the role of public health in climate litigation

in an effective and appropriate response” [36]. Both the Paris Agreement [37] adopted by the Conference of the Parties (COP21) and the “UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)” have guided development in this field. Although, health is not always specifically articulated in national laws and policies that address economic regulations on energy, electric utilities, con- struction, agriculture and industry, it is commonly implicit that the objective of these policies is human and planetary ecosystem survival. The evidential failure of implied protection of planetary health, stability of the climate and human health through existing laws provides a powerful argument that such protections must be made explicit and legally binding. For most nations the legal basis exists as in 2015, 193 nations endorsed the SDGs including SDG 3, which aims to “ensure healthy lives and to promote well-being for all ages” [38] and the Paris Agreement, endorsed by 196 countries, emphasizes the “right to health”. Whereas the SDGs are not legally binding, the Paris Agreement is. [39]. Yet with few legal teeth, it does not impose penalties, such as fees or embargos, for parties that violate its terms, and there is no international court or governing body ready to enforce compliance. Experts argue that in real- ity, the Paris Agreement is not legally binding [40]. The emerging field of climate law is inter-disciplinary and extends to often unsatisfactorily defined concepts such as a ‘carbon net zero economy’ and ‘sustainable finance’. Since 1992, the

United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Finance Initiative (FI) has partnered with the global financial services sector including banks, insurers, and investors in a commitment that “we . . . recognize that economic development needs to be compatible with human welfare and a healthy environment” [41]. Yet whilst older environmental regulations have provided legal avenues to petition for public health justice, they have been hindered by the economic ideology that profit trumps health, ecology, and ecosystems [42]. Public health, the environment, and law Environmental health-related legal frameworks. A relevant legal framework with impli- cations for environmental health promotion is the International Environmental Law (IEL). IEL is concerned with the attempt to control pollution and the depletion of natural resources within a framework of sustainable development [43]. The resource management and pollution control components which comprise this framework make it inherently linked to public health objectives, despite there being no explicit mention of human health in many IEL statutes [44]. In October 2021, the United Nations, Human Rights Council (HRC), recognized that having a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a human right, however this is not a legally binding obligation [45]. Relevant IEL statutes include “The Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment” (the 1972 Stockholm Declaration) [46] and “The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development” (the Rio Earth Summit) [47]. Inherent in both statutes is the

legal mandate to prevent, wherever possible, the degradation or depletion of environmental resources needed to sustain planetary life. In both declarations, one can observe an anthropo- centric focus on human health and the prevention of environmentally destructive actions which would be detrimental to it, namely those which interfere with life sustaining ecosystem services, as defined by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment [48]. International Human Rights Law (IHRL), like IEL, features an implicit focus on human health and well-being, albeit through the imposition of protective policies against abusive acts which could threaten any one of its many sub-domains. There are notable areas where IHRL and IEL intersect to promote a policy environment conducive to human health. For example, climate-friendly policies are increasingly being linked to our moral duty to uphold Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [49] which states that “Everyone has the right to PLOS ONE Public health as a legal tool in climate litigation PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0268633 June 15, 2022 4 / 31