Legal responses to climate immobility: Safeguarding the right to stay in the climate emergency

Climate change is a major driver reshaping patterns of human mobility, generating both movement and immobility across different regions and populations. While much of the existing literature has focused on displacement and migration, comparatively less attention has been paid to populations who stay in place, whether by choice or due to structural constraints. This article examines climate-related immobility with particular emphasis on the emerging concept of the “right to stay,” understood as the entitlement of individuals and communities to stay in their territories under conditions of safety, dignity, and habitability. It distinguishes between voluntary immobility and situations in which immobility is shaped by structural barriers, arguing that safeguarding the right to stay requires differentiating between autonomous decisions to stay and conditions that constrain meaningful choice. The article situates the right to stay within international human rights law, climate governance, and principles of climate justice, highlighting its connection to the right to freedom of movement, including the freedom to choose one's residence. Drawing on international and national climate litigation from the Americas, Oceania, and Europe, it evaluates how courts have addressed claims related to habitability, displacement risk, and State obligations in the context of climate change. It argues that, although legal frameworks increasingly acknowledge the need to protect populations at risk, significant gaps persist in the effective operationalization of the right to stay. The article concludes that safeguarding this right requires an integrated approach combining legal strategies, public policies, and community-based adaptation measures to ensure that individuals and communities can stay safely and with dignity in the face of climate change.