Private Law Theory

INTRODUCTION
Climate change is often described as a future threat, a looming crisis that will impact future generations. A decade ago, Mark Carney – then the Governor of the Bank of England and now Prime Minister of Canada – labelled it as the ‘Tragedy of the Horizon’, reflecting the challenge of mobilising present-day action for risks that appeared at the time to be distant. This conception of climate change as a future risk may partly explain the absence of tort law cases concerning climate change in England & Wales. Tort law, on a conventional view, is primarily backwards looking, focusing on apportioning liability for events that have already occurred … (more)

Lord Sales, ‘Climate change and the future of tort law: responding to systemic risk and expanding liability’, Keynote Address – Planning and Environment Bar Association Annual Conference 2025 (9 May 2025).