PROCLIMEX . ANR
Expertise in climate trials: production, use and reception
The team
Christophe TRAÏNI is professor of political science at Sciences Po Aix. Honorary member of the Institut Universitaire de France, Mesopolhis - christophe.traini@wanadoo.fr
Stéphanie DECHÉZELLES is a lecturer in political science at Sciences Po Aix and a researcher at MESOPOLHIS (Centre Méditerranéen de Sociologie, Science politique et Histoire, UMR CNRS 7064).
Benoît LUCZAK is a researcher in political science at MESOPOLHIS (Centre Méditerranéen de Sociologie, Science politique et Histoire, UMR CNRS 7064). Her work focuses on the climate movement in France and the UK, the transformation of climate units through civil disobedience, expertise and digital technology.
Sylvain BARONE is a researcher in political science at the Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (INRAE) and a member of the UMR G-EAU (Gestion de l'Eau, Acteurs, Usages) in Montpellier.
Estelle BROSSET is Professor of Public Law in the Faculty of Law and Political Science at the University of Aix-Marseille. She is a member of the Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales et Communautaires, part of UMR 7318 "DICE" International, Comparative and European Law.
Béatrice COINTE is a CNRS research fellow at the Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation des Mines Paris (UMR 9217, i3).
Christel COURNIL is a professor of public law at Sciences Po Toulouse and is in charge of the ecological transition and the ecological transition committee at Sciences Po Toulouse. She is a member of the LASSP Laboratory and an associate member of IDPS at Sorbonne Paris Nord University (Les Communs federative structure).
Pascal GAUTTIER holds a doctorate in public law from the University of Aix-Marseille. He is in charge of research and communication at CERIC, a member of UMR 7318 "DICE" International, Comparative and European Law.
Sandrine MALJEAN-DUBOIS is a director of research at the CNRS, based at Aix-Marseille University, within the CERIC, a member team of the UMR 7318 "DICE" International, Comparative and European Law.
Sandrine MATHY is a CNRS research director in environmental economics at the GAEL laboratory (Grenoble Applied Economics Laboratory, UMR UGA-Grenoble INP, CNRS, INRAE), where she is head of the energy team.
Camille MARTINI is a member of the New York Bar and a doctoral student (currently enrolled) at Aix-Marseille University's CERIC and Laval University.
Vincent MORON is a geographer and climate specialist at the Centre Européen de Recherche et d'Enseignement des Géosciences de l'Environnement (CEREGE) in Aix-en-Provence.
Yann ROBIOU DU PONT is seeking to quantify the fairness and ambition of the contributions made by stakeholders to achieve the Paris Agreement.
Eve TRUILHÉ is a research director at the CNRS. She currently heads the Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales et Communautaires (CERIC).
Catherine WILCOX did her thesis at the Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement (IGE) in Grenoble, during which she familiarised herself with climate change detection and attribution methods and applied them to hydrological issues.
The project
A growing number of actors and organisations are now using the trial as an instrument of protest, mobilisation and, beyond that, climate justice, in a variety of ways and with varying degrees of success.
Against a backdrop of renewed environmental democracy and participatory approaches (see the Great Debate and the National Convention on Climate), the trial is one of a number of forums that have recently been reinvested in which citizens can participate in shaping tomorrow's "climate law".
Among all the questions raised by this new form of mobilisation for the climate, our team proposes to look at the issue of expertise in these trials. This is a fundamental issue in climate trials. Fundamental for the plaintiffs, who, in order to effectively put forward a determined point of view in the service of the climate cause, have no choice but to appropriate knowledge and data from a variety of sources that are technical, complex and multi-disciplinary (not only scientific, but also socio-economic and legal) and to build on these foundations an expert system that is often enriched by lay knowledge (victims' testimonies, for example). It is also crucial to the outcome of the trial, which is largely determined by the expert systems at the heart of the claimants' legal strategies.
The main objectives of PROCLIMEX are as follows:
- To shed light on the legal strategies of NGOs when they use the weapons of law and litigation to advance the climate cause, and also those in response to the defendants (often States and companies);
- Deciphering the social uses of the various expert reports in the context of initiatives to bring the climate issue before the courts;
- Using a comparative analysis, to highlight the process of moving from scientific truth to legal truth by examining the adaptation of procedural law and the institution of the trial;
- To provide ways of strengthening the interface between scientists and decision-makers in the field of climate change in the context of a climate emergency.
Keywords: Climate change; litigation; science; modelling; data; expertise; trial; courts; judges; mobilisation; cause; associations; appeal; law; environmental law; ethics; justice; climate policy; ambition; citizen; democracy