국내 기후변화 소송에서 국제규범의 역할 : 네덜란드 판결을 중심으로

Climate change and its consequences are a reality facing the humankind worldwide. States have a positive obligation to protect the life and safety of citizens from the threat posed by dangerous climate change, and companies have responsibility to conduct businesses in a way that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, even after an international response system to counteract climate change has been established, global greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase, and accordingly, the possibility of achieving the climate target under the Paris Agreement is decreasing every year. Climate change litigation cases have indeed increased around the world as international efforts to respond to climate change were regarded as insufficient to deal with climate change problems. Such judicial approach through climate change litigation is considered as part of an indispensable effort to protect the human life and safety in a situation where international response system is insufficient, and state and corporate responsibility for climate change can no longer be overlooked. Against this background, the Dutch courts have during recent years issued unprecedented judgements regarding climate change responsibilities of states and corporations. In 2019, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands upheld, on the basis of the European Convention on Human Rights, that the Netherlands has a positive obligation to take measures for the prevention of climate change, and that the State must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25% below 1990 levels by the end of 2020. In 2021, the District Court of the Hague issued a landmark decision ordering the Royal Dutch Shell(“RDS”) to reduce the CO2 emissions of the entire Shell group by 45% below 2019 levels by 2030. While acknowledging that RDS’ climate change policy is inadequate to meet the requisite standard of due care under the Dutch law, the court used the goals of the Paris Agreement and international human rights standards, among others, as interpretative tools to find binding emissions-reduction obligation of a company. Although climate change litigations are basically conducted on the basis of an individual state’s unique legal system, international norms play an important role in climate change litigation as a basis for attributing state and corporate responsibility. Although a climate change litigation is carried out by a judicial institution of each state, climate change norms are in fact developing, centered on common core legal issues under international law, such as setting climate change goals based on climate science, grounds for recognizing state and corporate responsibility, and scope of responsibility. It remains to be seen to what extent active judical reviews such as in Urgenda and Shell cases of the Netherlands will affect other states' climate change litigations or international response systems. Nevertheless, counteractions against climate change through climate change litigation seems to be an opportunity to seek a common understanding among states through the interpretation and application of international norms, and to positively contribute to resolving current and future climate change problems by strengthening state and corporate responsibilities at the international level.