Social movements and the Paris Agreement: an imperfect vehicle for incremental change?

Social movements are playing an increasingly important role in shaping conversations around climate change. This chapter explores the evolving role of social movements in shaping climate law. It begins by showing how the field of environmental law emerged and evolved alongside, but largely detached from, other contemporary law-reform movements, before examining how the climate-justice movement, the climate-rights movement, and complementary projects are prompting a critical reassessment of climate law that questions how existing institutions determine whose voices are heard and whose interests are prioritized. This chapter suggests that, while these movements are making headway in reshaping conversations around climate change, international climate law has been slow to respond. Thus, while the Paris Agreement creates avenues for a variety of state and non-state actors to make their voices heard in ways that seem responsive to the demands of burgeoning climate movements, it has, at best, facilitated only incremental movement toward more equitable and effective systems of climate governance.