"Social welfare is gaining prominence in the pursuit of global aspirations to fight climate change, one of the preeminent collective concerns of our time. A series of recent landmark judicial decisions in countries including Germany, France and the Netherlands testifies to the prevailing concerns as well as to the inadequacy of the existing measures adopted by states in order to attain realistic climate goals. In all these cases, such cardinal dimensions as the social consequences of climate change, social equality and overall social welfare were made the subject of court scrutiny. The underlying aim of this article is to explore and discern the role and importance of social welfare considerations in the emerging institutional discourse about countering climate change and meeting shared global climate ambitions. In this connection, it seeks to portray wider decision-making trends in western European countries which should, in turn, be interpreted as providing a guiding vision as well as indicators for measuring advances in climate change policies within the region of south-east Europe which has yet to feature in such court actions. "

Support: Digital;Paper