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Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
De Spiegeleir, A. (2025). Climate change storytelling and masterplots at the European Court of Human Rights. Law and Humanities, 19(1), 93–121.
Talk of climate change litigation is on everyone’s lips. While some hope binding rulings will drive climate action, others question courts’ expertise, legitimacy, and enforcement capacities. This article adds to the growing literature on climate change litigation by adopting a narrative perspective and centering climate change storytelling, which has so far received little attention in legal circles. To draw broader conclusions about climate narratives in law and pave the way for further research, this article studies the three climate rulings rendered by the European Court of Human Rights on April 9, 2024, through the lens of the concept of “masterplots,” that is, story-types that structure our collective narrative expectations.
Briegleb, A. & De Spiegeleir, A. (2024). Klimaatzaak en appel : Tour d’horizon d’un arrêt hors du commun. Journal Des Tribunaux, 39, 702–711. [Title in English: Klimaatzaak on Appeal: Overview of an Extraordinary Ruling]
Klimaatzaak follows its course in the footsteps of the Dutch Urgenda case. The Brussels Court of Appeal ruling from November 30, 2023, imposing binding targets on the Belgian Federal State and the Flemish and Brussels Regions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, did not leave anyone indifferent. This article offers an overview of this resounding ruling, which crystallizes legal, ecological, and societal issues and clarifies public authorities’ climate obligations.
De Spiegeleir, A. (2023). The Belgian Climate Case: From Federalism Idiosyncrasies to Arboreal Novelties. Chinese Journal of Environmental Law, 7(2), 261–272.
VZW Klimaatzaak v Kingdom of Belgium & Others is a climate lawsuit brought in Belgium in 2015. It was modeled on the famous Dutch Urgenda case. In this groundbreaking judicial procedure, over 60,000 plaintiffs argued that Belgian public authorities have undertaken insufficient climate action and called for its enhancement. On June 17, 2021, the Tribunal of First Instance of Brussels rendered its decision in partial favor of the plaintiffs, consolidating a climate ‘duty of care’ for public authorities. This article puts forward a succinct summary of the complaint introduced by the NGO Klimaatzaak and the main findings of the Tribunal. In doing so, it attempts to make the idiosyncrasies of Belgian federalism intelligible to an international audience. It also highlights a number of notable features of the case, including the Tribunal’s reliance on the Aarhus Convention to interpret broadly the provisions on legal standing for environmental NGOs, and a third-party intervention request introduced on behalf of over a hundred trees with long lifespans. Finally, the article focuses on an apparent flaw in the reasoning of the Tribunal in its 2021 judgment and points out what to look out for in the appeal proceedings that are ongoing at the time of writing.
De Spiegeleir, A. (2018). Data ergo sum ? Analyse en cercles concentriques des implications du phénomène des Big Data pour l’humain et le vivre ensemble. Revue interdisciplinaire d’études juridiques, 81, 371-393. [Title in English: Data ergo sum? Analysis in concentric circles of the implications of the Big Data phenomenon for humans and their communities]
A new philosopher’s stone or a new Pandora’s box, Big Data is playing an increasingly important role in our societies. Difficult to define and characterize, it is a phenomenon with major consequences for privacy, the exercise of power, human action and personal identity. In this article, I build five concentric circles around these themes to highlight the implications of the Big Data phenomenon for human beings and their communities.
Book Chapters & Edited Volumes
Tigre, M.A., Bönneman, M. & De Spiegeleir, A. (Eds.) (2025). The ICJ’s Advisory Opinion on Climate Change. Verfassungsbooks.
This forthcoming co-edited volume follows the ICJ’s landmark advisory opinion on climate change. The collection gathers rapid-fire, short-form commentaries from leading scholars and practitioners to situate the opinion within broader debates on international adjudication, climate justice, and the role of courts in global climate governance.
De Spiegeleir, A. (2025). Storytelling in the Advisory Proceedings on Climate Change. In M.A. Tigre & A. Rocha (Eds.), The Role of Advisory Opinions in International Law in the Context of the Climate Crisis. Brill.
In this book chapter, I introduce storytelling as a novel perspective to study international advisory proceedings on climate change at the ICJ, the IACtHR, and ITLOS. The chapter suggests that, despite their lack of binding character, or perhaps precisely because of it, advisory proceedings could contribute to meaningful climate action by weaving compelling climate change stories. This requires quite a bit of conceptual unpacking around “climate change storytelling” and the role of international courts in this process both as storytellers and as arenas for others to tell stories. The chapter discusses two specific examples of climate change storytelling drawn from the amicus brief submitted by the Avaaz Foundation to the IACtHR and the opening oral pleadings made by representatives of small island states before ITLOS. It ends on a call to explore further the space for climate change storytelling in international adjudication.
De Spiegeleir, A. (2024). Soft Law as an Avenue for Legal Harmonization: A Belgian Perspective. In A.B. de Oliveira, L. Gama, & G. Saumier (Eds.), Soft Law in International Trade Finance. Brill.
In this book chapter, I survey the reception of international (and European) soft law in the Belgian legal system both in general terms and by means of a case study around the use of the Uniform Customs & Practice for Documentary Credits (UCP 600), which were developed by the International Chamber of Commerce as a tool for harmonizing the legal framework surrounding letters of credit.
De Spiegeleir, A. (2022). Interpretatie van het VN-Verdrag inzake internationale koopovereenkomsten betreffende roerende zaken: Inzichten uit de Belgische ervaring. In B. Tilleman & B. De Volder (Eds.),Weens Koopverdrag. Intersentia. [Title in English: Interpretation of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods: Insights from the Belgian Experience]
This book chapter consists in a commentary of the provision of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods that relates to the interpretation of this Convention. I rely on doctrinal comments and case law, including hitherto unpublished rulings from Belgian courts, to describe and critique how legal actors have interpreted the Convention to date.
Book Reviews
De Spiegeleir, A. (2025). Book Review: Maria Antonia Tigre, Armando Rocha, and Délton Winter de Carvalho (eds), Brazil and Climate Justice: Pioneering Climate Litigation for a Global Cause (Brill, 2025, 427 + xxv pp). Human Rights Law Review, online first.
In this review, I discuss Brazil and Climate Justice, an edited volume that maps the fast-evolving landscape of climate litigation in Brazil and situates it within global debates on climate justice. I highlight how the book illuminates pioneering rights-based cases—such as the landmark Climate Fund decision—and broadens the field by examining corporate accountability, financial actors, and transnational claims.
Blog Posts
De Spiegeleir, A. (2025). Skipping Steps at the ICJ: Pragmatism and Judicial Economy in the 12 September Order in Equatorial Guinea v. France (Return of Property). EJIL: Talk!.
In this post, I examine the ICJ’s 12 September 2025 order in Equatorial Guinea v. France (Return of Property) and what it reveals about the Court’s evolving use of judicial economy in provisional-measures proceedings. I argue that the Court’s increasingly selective reasoning reflects both pragmatic adaptation and the risk of arbitrariness in managing a crowded docket.
De Spiegeleir, A. & Rocha, A. (2025). Sea-Level Rise Reaches The Hague: Findings in Relation to the Law of the Sea in the ICJ’s Climate Change Advisory Opinion. Verfassungsblog & Climate Law Blog.
In this post, Armando Rocha and I analyze the findings relating to the law of the sea made by the International Court of Justice in its much-discussed climate change opinion.
Read online (also here)
De Spiegeleir, A. (2025). The Ruling and the Mirror: The ICJ’s Climate Change Advisory Opinion as Institutional Self-Portrait. Verfassungsblog & Climate Law Blog.
This post argues that the ICJ’s recent climate change advisory opinion is not just a legal ruling but a self-reflective act, revealing how the Court wants to be seen—calm, authoritative, and responsive to a global crisis. It highlights how the Court carefully crafts its institutional image, using legal reasoning and rhetorical choices to present itself as a principled and composed actor in the face of existential challenges like climate change.
Read online (also here)
Tigre, M.A., Bönneman, M. & De Spiegeleir, A. (2025). The ICJ’s Advisory Opinion on Climate Change: An Introduction. Verfassungsblog & Climate Law Blog.
This post introduces the blog symposium I am co-editing with Maria Antonia Tigre and Maxim Bönneman about the advisory opinion on climate change issued by the International Court of Justice on July 23, 2025. The symposium is hosted by Verfassungsblog and the Climate Law Blog.
Read online (also here)
De Spiegeleir, A. & Ye, B. (2025). A New Look at Confiscating Russian Assets. Verfassungsblog.
In this post, Beini Ye and I explore the legal hurdles and broader implications of enforcing compensation awards from the European Court of Human Rights against Russia in third states.
Brucher, A. & De Spiegeleir, A. (2024). Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz v. Switzerland and Article 6(1) of the ECHR: Of Climate Change and Craftsmanship. EU Law Live.
In this short comment, we survey the European Court of Human Rights’ application of Article 6(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights in the Grand Chamber judgment in Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and others v. Switzerland, rendered on April 9, 2024.
Brucher, A. & De Spiegeleir, A. (2024). The European Court of Human Rights’ April 9 Climate Rulings and the Future (Thereof). Verfassungsblog.
In this short comment, we analyze the place of the “future” in the three climate change rulings rendered by the European Court of Human Rights on April 9, 2024. We also reflect on what these cases can teach us about the future of the Court itself.
De Spiegeleir, A. (2023). The 2022 Qatar World Cup Was Greenwashed: The Swiss Fairness Commission Finds In Favor of Six NGOs Alleging Misleading and Unfair Advertisement by FIFA. Climate Law Blog.
In this short comment, I analyze a decision of the Swiss Fairness Commission in which it found that FIFA had engaged in greenwashing during the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
De Spiegeleir, A. & Tigre, M.A. (2022). The Role of Human Rights Institutions In Tackling Climate Change: A Case Study of the Philippines. Climate Law Blog.
In this short comment, we study the implications of a 2022 report issued by the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines detailing the findings of a groundbreaking inquiry into the responsibility of Carbon Majors—large global fossil fuel and cement companies—for the adverse effects of climate change on human rights.
Petel, M., & De Spiegeleir, A. (2021). Lessons from the Belgian Climate Case: The Devil Is in the Details. Climate Law Blog.
In this short comment, we analyze the ruling of the Tribunal of First Instance of Brussels in Klimaatzaak, the Belgian Climate Case brought by an NGO and thousands of citizens against Belgian public authorities.
Expert Reports
Hernández, G. & Wessel, R.A. (2025). Expert Legal Opinion on the Implications for the European Union of the July 2024 International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion regarding the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. European Parliament.
I assisted in research and drafting for an expert legal opinion commissioned by the European Parliament, assessing the consequences of the ICJ’s 2024 advisory opinion on Israel’s Policies and Practices in the OPT for the EU’s institutional and external action framework.
Open Society Justice Initiative (2025). Legal Possibilities of Using Russian Central Bank Assets to Enforce European Court of Human Rights Judgments: Comparative Studies of Applicable Laws in Belgium, France, and the United Kingdom.
I contributed to a comparative study examining whether and how Russian Central Bank assets could be used to implement ECtHR decisions, focusing on Belgian, French, and UK law.
Tigre, M.A. (Ed.) (2023). Comments from the Sabin Center Peer Reviewer Network to the “Study on the Impact of Climate Change on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Africa”. Sabin Center for Climate Change Law.
I contributed to the Sabin Center’s peer review response to the African Commission’s study on climate change and human rights, focusing on the role of international courts and tribunals.
Antoine De Spiegeleir, LLM (Yale) 