Ten years since Leghari v Pakistan: the state of play in international climate litigation

Dr Joana Setzer is an Associate Professorial Research Fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, at the London School of Economics (LSE), where she leads the Climate Change Laws of the World project. She co-leads the legal stream of the Global School of Sustainability at the LSE, and is the lead author of the annual Global Trends in Climate Litigation report series, which provides an overview of key developments in climate litigation from around the world.

Francesco Sindico is a Professor of International Environmental Law at the University of Strathclyde Law School in Glasgow, Scotland. He is also the Co-Chair of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission on Environmental Law Climate Change Law Specialist Group where he co-leads the Cities and the Ocean/Islands clusters. He was Counsel for IUCN in the Advisory Opinion on State Climate Change Obligations before the International Court of Justice. He provided advice to the government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia in the Silala case before the same Court. Francesco is also the Founder and Director of the Climate Change Legal Initiative (C2LI) - www.c2li.org. He is also an elected member of the International Water Resource Association (IWRA) Executive board and has led the I IWRA Islands Water Congress in 2024. Francesco has collaborated and provided advice to governments and international organisations, including the Scottish Government where he led the Carbon Neutral Islands Project from 2021 to 2024. Francesco has published extensively on climate change law including the 2021 Springer book Comparative Climate Change Litigation: Beyond the Usual Suspects and the 2024 Edward Elgar Research Handbook on Climate Change Litigation.

Rafael holds a Bachelor of Laws granted by the Universidad Catolica Santiago se Guayaquil (UCSG) and an LL.M. in Corporate Law granted by the same institution. He is currently pursuing a postgraduate degree in Corporate Compliance at Aden International Business School. He was a Partner in Quevedo & Ponce and is currently a Partner in Noboa, Peña & Torres, where he Chairs the Firm’s Environmental and Sustainable Business Department. His practice focuses in advising local and foreign companies in corporate matters, compliance, and environmental liability. He has lectured several courses in environmental law, compliance and sustainable business en different trade chambers, as well as in the most prestigious academic institutions.