Transformative Constitutionalism in the Age of Climate Change: Reimagining Constitutional Governance for Environmental Justice

Abstract

Climate change has emerged as a major constitutional challenge, requiring legal systems to evolve beyond traditional governance models to address environmental degradation, ecological sustainability, and climate justice. Transformative constitutionalism has gained prominence as a framework for integrating constitutional governance with environmental protection and democratic accountability. This narrative review examines the evolution of transformative constitutionalism in the context of climate change and explores how constitutional governance can promote environmental justice through rights-based, participatory, and ecologically responsive approaches. A narrative review methodology was employed to synthesize contemporary literature on transformative constitutionalism, environmental constitutionalism, climate governance, judicial constitutionalism, comparative constitutional experiences, and emerging constitutional paradigms. Relevant peer-reviewed books, journal articles, and scholarly publications were critically analyzed to identify major conceptual developments, challenges, and future directions. The review demonstrates that constitutional governance has increasingly incorporated environmental rights, intergenerational equity, participatory governance, and climate justice into constitutional interpretation and policymaking. Judicial constitutionalism and climate litigation have strengthened governmental accountability, while comparative constitutional experiences reveal growing recognition of eco-constitutionalism, rights of nature, planetary constitutionalism, and transnational environmental governance. However, institutional limitations, enforcement gaps, political resistance, and governance constraints continue to impede effective constitutional responses to climate change. Transformative constitutionalism provides a robust normative and institutional framework for reimagining constitutional governance in the Anthropocene. Strengthening environmental rights, institutional accountability, ecologically informed constitutional design, and international constitutional cooperation will be essential for advancing environmental justice and long-term climate resilience.