The Constitutionalization of Climate Justice in the Case Law of the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court
Structural Rulings and the Constitutional Duty of Environmental Protection
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22436359 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Homero De Giorge Cerqueira (0000-0002-0362-9651, Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 04 |
| Pages | 24-46 |
| Publication date | 2026-07-11 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Revista Gênero e Interdisciplinaridade (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2675-7451 • E-ISSN: 2675-7451 |
| Publisher | Periodicojs (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.51249/gei.v7i4.3095 |
| OpenAlex | W7168037003 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 6 |
This article investigates whether the recent case law of the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court supports the claim that a Brazilian climate constitutionalism grounded in constitutional duties of result has emerged. Based on the systematic analysis of the leading precedents of the so-called “green docket”, notably ADPF 708 (Climate Fund), ADO 59 (Amazon Fund), ADPF 760 and ADO 54 (PPCDAm), ADPFs 743, 746 and 857 (wildfires in the Pantanal and the Amazon) and ADIs 7,273 and 7,345 (gold trade), it is argued that between 2020 and 2026 the Court consolidated a new phase of environmental constitutionalism, characterized by the transformation of climate justice into a juridical-constitutional category endowed with its own normative efficacy. The research employs the deductive method, Laurence Bardin’s content analysis applied to constitutional case law, and comparative law, in dialogue with Urgenda, Neubauer, the Colombian Amazon case, Klima Seniorinnen and the 2025 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice. The article concludes that these rulings form a genuine jurisprudential microsystem of climate protection, structured by the principles of prevention, precaution, prohibition of environmental retrogression, intergenerational solidarity and the maximum effectiveness of article 225 of the Federal Constitution, imposing positive duties of protection upon the State and legitimizing structural judicial review of climate public policies.
Common law · Constitutional court · Constitutionalism · Duty · Economic Justice · Justiciability · Supreme court · Environmental law and policy · Indigenous Peoples' Rights and Law · International Environmental Law and Policies
| Highly cited | No |
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