030330 KU Climate Change, Environmental Protection and International Law (2024S)

This course will give the students an overview of the dynamically evolving field of international law on climate change. The course will pay particular attention to the foundations of this field, which can be found in the principles and customary law obligations of international environmental law. The course will also cover applicable concepts of climate science and climate policy, which are necessary to understand the phenomenon and main drivers of the climate crisis, as well as the challenges and opportunities the legal tools to abate climate change. Besides covering the international treaty law rules on climate change, special attention will be paid to the booming trend of climate litigation, which increasingly reaches international courts, and to the human rights-based tools to protect the environment and a safe climate for present and future generations.

Syllabus

1. The history of international environmental law: from transboundary pollution to tackling the Anthropocene challenge
2. The legal principles and customary law obligations of international environmental law
3. The role of science in international environmental law and adjudication: challenges of adjudicating environmental disputes
4. The causes and dynamics of climate change, climate impacts - What lawyers (should) know about the science of climate change
5. The protection of the climate system in international treaty law: from Rio to Paris
6. International law governing climate mitigation, climate adaptation, climate finance and geoengineering
7. The anatomy of climate litigation cases before domestic and international courts: legal responsibility surrounding climate change
8. Human right to a healthy environment in the Council of Europe’s system (and beyond)
9. Climate change and human rights law