Il caso dell'espansione (bloccata) dell'aeroporto di Heathrow: un passo avanti per il contenzioso climatico?

On 27 February 2020 the Court of Appeal of England and Wales (Civil Division) ruled that the plan to build a third runway at the airport of Heathrow was unlawful, as it did not take into account the State’s international commitments under the Paris Agreement. While the expansion of the airport has not been ruled out for the future, any project in this direction should now pay due regard to international environmental law. One the one hand, the decision at stake provides further evidence of the supplement role that domestic courts may play in implementing international climate change commitments. On the other hand, when one compares it to other national decisions, the judgment under exam highlights how domestic courts may adopt diverging approaches in the way they rely on international law in climate change matters, thus strengthening a ‘fragmentation’ that may hinder the weight of their rulings beyond the specific case.