“The Rise of Climate Litigation in Asia” with Jolene Lin

Climate change litigation has developed rapidly across the world, but arrived more recently in Asia. In the first scholarly examination on the prospects of climate litigation in Asia, several contributors to "Climate Litigation in the Asia Pacific" (Cambridge University Press 2020) highlighted challenges and obstacles. While these challenges remain, climate litigation in Asia has seen a powerful emergence in 2024 alone. In this talk, moderated by LEAP Faculty Director Doug Kysar, National University of Singapore Professor Jolene Lin will share her analysis and reflections on some of the leading cases in the Asian climate litigation docket with particular focus on the Korean Constitutional Court's landmark decision declaring parts of Korea's Carbon Neutrality Act unconstitutional and the Indian Supreme Court's historic judgment on climate change and human rights in M.K. Ranjitsinh v. Union of India. She will also consider global trends in climate litigation and their impact on Asia.

Jolene Lin is Associate Professor of Law at the National University of Singapore (NUS). She is also Director of the Asia-Pacific Centre of Environmental Law. She is a globally recognized expert on climate change law. Her recent publications include Governing Climate Change: Global Cities and Transnational Lawmaking (Cambridge University Press 2018), Climate Change Litigation in the Asia Pacific (Cambridge University Press 2020) and Litigating Climate Change in the Global South (Oxford University Press 2024). She is on the editorial boards of Journal of Environmental Law, Transnational Environmental Law and the Chinese Journal of Environmental Law. Jolene is also a member of the Academic Circle supporting the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to development (2024-2026) and Vice-Chair of the International Chamber of Commerce Global Environment and Energy Commission. In recognition of her research, she has been invited to deliver distinguished lectures at University College London, the University of Amsterdam and the Sorbonne Abu Dhabi. In Fall 2025, Jolene will be visiting New York University School of Law as Global Professor of Law Jolene read law at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LLB), New York University (LLM) and Erasmus University Rotterdam (PhD). She is an Advocate and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore.

Lunch will be served.