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Coordinated and published by The Grassroots Institute, the Grassroots Journal of Natural Resources (GJNR) is an international journal dedicated to the latest advancements in natural resources throughout the world. The goal of this journal is to provide a platform for scientists, social scientists, policy analysts, managers and practitioners (on all academic and professional levels) all over the world to promote, discuss and share various new issues and developments in different arenas of natural resources.
Hafsat Mohammed Ali Ndume*1, Mohammed Yaro Zakari2, Atiku Said Haliru3,
Safiya Shettima Umar4
1Faculty of Law, Nile University of Nigeria, Abuja, Nigeria.
Email: hafsatmohali@yahoo.com, 20222805@nileuniversity.edu.ng | ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-1635-6281
2Faculty of Law, Nile University of Nigeria, Abuja, Nigeria.
Email: mohammed.zakari@nileuniversity.edu.ng | ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-6302-726X
3Department of Shariah, Faculty of Law, University of Maiduguri, Nigeria.
Email: atikus2020@gmail.com | ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-3921-2532
4Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law, University of Maiduguri. Nigeria.
Email: umarsafiyashettima@unimaid.edu.ng | ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-45821721
*Corresponding author
Grassroots Journal of Natural Resources, 8(3): 656-686. Doi: https://doi.org/10.33002/nr2581.6853.080327
Received: 06 November 2025
Reviewed: 28 November 2025
Provisionally Accepted: 30 November 2025
Revised: 05 December 2025
Finally Accepted: 13 December 2025
Published: 31 December 2025
This article undertakes a comparative analysis of judicial approaches to climate change litigation in Nigeria, Kenya, and the United Kingdom, three jurisdictions shaped by common law traditions but characterised by differing constitutional frameworks, institutional capacities, and levels of climate policy development. Employing a doctrinal methodology, the study examines relevant case law, statutory regimes, and policy instruments to assess how courts in each jurisdiction have engaged with climate-related claims, particularly those seeking mitigation, adaptation, and procedural accountability. The findings reveal important contrasts. In Kenya, constitutional recognition of the right to a clean and healthy environment, coupled with relatively permissive standing rules, has enabled courts to engage more openly with environmental and climate-related claims, although judicial intervention has often focused on procedural compliance rather than substantive emissions control. In the United Kingdom, the existence of comprehensive climate legislation, most notably the Climate Change Act 2008, has provided a structured basis for litigation, with courts playing a supervisory role through judicial review by assessing the legality, rationality, and transparency of governmental climate strategies, while generally exercising restraint in relation to policy merits. Nigeria’s climate litigation landscape remains comparatively underdeveloped, constrained by procedural barriers, limited climate-specific legislation, and enforcement challenges; however, courts have increasingly addressed climate-relevant harms indirectly through environmental law and human rights-based claims, suggesting an evolving but cautious judicial engagement. By comparing these jurisdictions, the article identifies both shared challenges, such as causation, justiciability, and judicial deference, and divergent pathways through which climate litigation contributes to climate governance.
Climate change litigation; Judicial approach; Comparative analysis; Mitigation; Adaptation
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Ndume, H.M.A., Zakari, M.Y., Haliru, A.S. and Umar, S.S. (2025). Climate Change Litigation in Comparative Perspective: Evaluating Judicial Approaches in Nigeria, Kenya, and the United Kingdom. Grassroots Journal of Natural Resources, 8(3): 656-686. Doi: https://doi.org/10.33002/nr2581.6853.080327
Ndume, H. M. A., Zakari, M. Y., Haliru, A. S., & Umar, S. S. (2025). Climate Change Litigation in Comparative Perspective: Evaluating Judicial Approaches in Nigeria, Kenya, and the United Kingdom. Grassroots Journal of Natural Resources, 8(3), 656-686. https://doi.org/10.33002/nr2581.6853.080327
Ndume H. M. A., Zakari M. Y., Haliru A. S., Umar S. S. Climate Change Litigation in Comparative Perspective: Evaluating Judicial Approaches in Nigeria, Kenya, and the United Kingdom. Grassroots Journal of Natural Resources, 2025, 8 (3), 656-686. https://doi.org/10.33002/nr2581.6853.080327
Ndume, Hafsat Mohammed Ali, Zakari, Mohammed Yaro, Haliru, Atiku Said, Umar, Safiya Shettima. 2025. “Climate Change Litigation in Comparative Perspective: Evaluating Judicial Approaches in Nigeria, Kenya, and the United Kingdom”. Grassroots Journal of Natural Resources, 8 no. 3: 656-686. https://doi.org/10.33002/nr2581.6853.080327
Ndume, Hafsat Mohammed Ali, Mohammed Yaro Zakari, Atiku Said Haliru and Safiya Shettima Umar. 2025. “Climate Change Litigation in Comparative Perspective: Evaluating Judicial Approaches in Nigeria, Kenya, and the United Kingdom”. Grassroots Journal of Natural Resources, 8 (3): 656-686. https://doi.org/10.33002/nr2581.6853.080327
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