The Law and Science of Climate Change Attribution
Climate change detection and attribution research (“attribution science”) examines the causal links between human activities, changes in the climate system, and resulting impacts on human and natural systems. This area of research provides critical insights on the impacts attributable to anthropogenic climate change and the relative contributions of different sources to those impacts. As such, it plays an important role in climate litigation, policy-making, and governance.
Researchers at the Sabin Center and Columbia Climate School are engaged in a long-term collaborative project aimed at understanding and communicating the role of attribution science in climate law and policy. In 2020, we published a law review article on The Law and Science of Climate Change Attribution, which provided a comprehensive overview of the status of attribution research and the ways in which this research factors into different areas of climate litigation. Since then, we have published additional articles, book chapters, and educational resources on related topics, such as the evolving role of climate science and attribution science in human rights litigation, adaptation claims, takings litigation, international law and the ICJ climate advisory opinion, and natural resource management.
As part of this project, we are also seeking to build connections between researchers and practitioners working in different fields, and to expand awareness of attribution research and its relevance to law and policy. In 2020, we launched ClimateAttribution.org, a searchable database containing hundreds of attribution studies categorized by topic. We recently added an “In the Courts” section to the database to track how attribution research is specifically being utilized in expert declarations and other court documents. One goal of this database is to help legal practitioners identify research that may be relevant to their research or advocacy work.
We hosted our first major conference on Attribution Science and Climate Law at Columbia University in January 2025. The core goals of the event were to facilitate interdisciplinary discussion, advance substantive knowledge in this field, and promote ongoing collaboration between the scientific, legal, and policy-making communities. Approximately 150 people attended in person and 600 people logged in to watch some or all of the conference online. A summary report and a video recording are now available online. We are now planning a second major conference on this topic to be hosted at Columbia University in June 2026.
Finally: this research and our ongoing collaborations with climate scientists have helped to inform our work on other projects, such as comments on the Trump administration’s proposed Reconsideration of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Endangerment Finding and Repeal of GHG Performance Standards for Power Plants, and an amicus brief submitted to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights regarding its advisory opinion on climate change and state obligations under human rights law.
