Addressing climate change and its adverse impacts requires unprecedented transformative changes in terms of scale and scope of all sectors and systems (IPCC 2021). The law, both in an international and a national context, is a core governance tool to bring about such necessary changes. This course will provide an overview of the best-available climate science as assessed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and will analyse the legal responses in place for their adequateness, effectiveness and fairness in light of this science.
Students will examine the international legal framework, including the UN climate treaties, UNCLOS, human rights treaties as well as customary international law, as well as its implications for national legal responses on mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damages. Students will examine core principles, inter alia, of prevention, polluter pays, sustainable development, and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. Moreover, students will learn about the nexus of climate change and specific areas of law, such as those pertaining to migrant protection, indigenous peoples, trade and investment, ocean and marine environment, and biological diversity.
The course will also provide an up-to-date overview over litigation on climate change at various domestic, regional, and international courts.
The aim of this course is to provide a foundation of knowledge to enable students to think broadly and critically about how climate change interacts with various legal tools and disciplines, how adequate legal responses are in addressing this global challenge, and to consider their role in developing solutions.
Course participants do not require a legal background for this course. Previous course participants have come from backgrounds in science, economics, and policy.