Chapter 12 examines how international law is interpreted and applied in climate litigation. The authors explore the interplay between international and domestic law, and how it can shape the outcomes of climate litigation. Their exploration of emerging best practice reveals a progressive trend: domestic courts are increasingly incorporating international climate obligations into their rulings. This trend not only underscores the significance of international law in shaping domestic legal responses to climate change but also amplifies the capacity of domestic legal systems to address the impacts of climate change more effectively. Moreover, the authors spotlight emerging best practices from regional and international bodies. They argue that these practices demonstrate the potency of international legal norms in influencing the trajectory of climate litigation, fostering a global legal landscape that is increasingly responsive to the climate crisis.

This chapter considers the protection afforded to documents as part of the litigation process. The documents in question include both the pre-trial documents discussed in both Chapter 11 and Chapter 12 and documents that are produced at trial. It is more difficult to protect the confidentiality of documents produced at trial because most trials are held in open court. Civil dispute resolution inevitably involves the provision of information between parties and this can come at a significant cost to party confidentiality. Litigation involves an even greater sacrifice of confidentiality as the key requirement for open justice means that confidential material discussed in open court can become public knowledge through judgments, court transcripts or media reporting of open court hearings.1 However, even litigation attempts to minimise the invasion of party privacy, and privilege is one of the key protections the law provides to ensure that the need to put material before the court does not create perverse incentives for parties.