Prosecution may have an unexpected role to play in the climate crisis. Now that the Supreme Court has put obstacles in the way of meaningful regulatory solutions, the public must consider bold, new measures to slow the burning of fossil fuels that are the major cause of climate change. Given the stakes, the time has come to give serious consideration to criminal accountability where harms, especially deaths, caused by climate change are directly traceable to corporate or individual conduct. While regulatory efforts must continue, homicide cases in particular—so long as they are legally sound—offer a compelling alternative that would present fossil-fuel companies with new and real consequences that could advance a critical regulatory need via prosecution.
Author
Lecturer, Indiana University Maurer School of Law. Thank you to Aaron Regunberg, Don Braman, and David Arkush for their feedback on this Essay; thank you also to Leandra Lederman for her early encouragement to research, write, and publish.
Copyright 2025 by Cindy J. Cho
Cite as: Cindy J. Cho, Climate Prosecution as Climate Regulation, 119 Nw. U. L. Rev. Online 323 (2025), https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1354&context=nulr_online.