Just transition litigation and the role of Grievance Redress Mechanisms: from international to local practice

This project aims at investigating in a comparative and multi-disciplinary perspective the role of Grievance Redress Mechanisms (GRMs) in the so-called “just transition litigation”. This term was firstly mentioned in a 2021 scientific paper as a climate litigation that “does not align to climate objectives”. In other words, in such cases the plaintiffs are not opposing climate objectives and the green transition per se, but the way in which such transition is conducted. This project argues that such cases must rightfully include complaints brought before international quasi-judicial mechanism such as the IRM. The role of GRMs in just transition litigation stands quite unaddressed in current academic literature.

This project, on the one hand, addresses key questions on the accountability of international agencies and funds for the operation of green development projects implemented without due consideration of crucial environmental and social safeguards. On the other hand, the investigation argues for the need of establishing GRMs also at the local and national level taking inspiration from international accountability mechanisms. In fact, local communities as well as Indigenous peoples are being quite vocal about the need of respecting their rights when green infrastructure projects are being implemented (for example, the Supreme Court of Norway ruled in favour of Sami communities against the installation of a wind farm on their ancestral land).

GRMs offer a swifter, project-based method of obtaining redress compared to national courts. International practice may offer best practices concerning accountability and respect for environmental and social standards since the early stages of project development, which involve, for example, the participatory monitoring of potentially affected local communities. Therefore, this projects addresses the following research questions:

How do international funds and agencies establish accountability and liability for their green transition projects?

• What are the policies in place?
• What are current trends in cases brought before GRMSs?
• Who are the plaintiffs filing cases (Indigenous peoples, local communities, gender dimension)? How are the accountability mechanisms dealing with such cases? What was the actual enforcements of the recommendations adopted by the GRMs?
• How is international practice relevant for the establishment of GRMs at the national level?

This project is conducted in collaboration with the project “Accountability of the International Organisations” established at the IHEID - Geneva Graduate Institute.