Democracy and Deliberation in the UNFCCC
By Tuomas Palosaari, Lecturer Democracy and the International System People living in democracies have ways to influence and follow public decision-making that affects their lives. International decision-making is problematic in this regard. The ‘chain of legitimacy’ imagined as extending from the people to the public decision-makers is convoluted when applied to international decision-making. In democracies […]
Climate Initiatives and Research Facilitating the Expansion of High-integrity Voluntary Climate Action
By Lauri Peterson, Senior Researcher In recent years, various initiatives have emerged aimed at promoting voluntary climate action (VCA). Put simply, VCA consists of efforts and measures that businesses and governments undertake of their own accord, without being legally mandated or required to do so by regulatory frameworks to tackle climate change. An increasing number […]
Environmental Procedural Rights at Risk? Inadequate Financial Contributions Threaten to Undermine the Aarhus Convention
Written by Nicola Sharman This article was originally published on Ejil:Talk! From 2-4 July, the Working Group of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention met for the 28th time in the UN Headquarters in Geneva. The agenda featured critical topics such as access to justice, public participation in international forums, the protection of environmental defenders, compliance cases, capacity-building, and possible topics […]
Keeping up with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement – The path towards Baku COP29
By Sara Tolonen, PhD Candidate The emerging Article 6 carbon market architecture The Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI-60) and Subsidiary Body for Science and Technological Advice (SBSTA-60) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held their intersessional meetings in Bonn on 6-13 June 2024, with a continuing focus on making progress on […]
Oil Bosses Call Phasing Out Fossil Fuels a ‘Fantasy’ – but an International Agreement is Plausible
By Harro van Asselt, Professor of Climate Law and Policy, Lauri Peterson, Senior Researcher, and Panagiotis Fragkos, Researcher, Energy & Economy, National Technical University of Athens. First published in The Conversation on 9 April 2024. Amin Nasser, chief executive of the world’s largest oil company Saudi Aramco, recently called on nations to “abandon the fantasy” […]
Reflections on the Use of Revenues from the EU CBAM
by Kateryna Holzer, Senior Researcher In May 2023, the EU adopted a regulation on a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) that extends the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS) to imports from six sectors (iron and steel, aluminium, cement, fertilizers, hydrogen and electricity). The CBAM sets out an obligation for importers to purchase and surrender CBAM […]
Climate change litigation before the European Court of Human Rights: a new dawn
By Annalisa Savaresi, Professor of International Environmental Law at University of Eastern Finland, Linnéa Nordlander, Assistant Professor of Sustainability, Climate Change, and Human Rights at University of Copenhagen, and Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh, Associate Professor of Sustainability Law at University of Amsterdam. First published in the GNHRE blog on 12 April. On 9 April 2024, the European […]
Sustainable finance in the EU – what can corporate reporting schemes add to climate policy
By Saga L Eriksson, PhD Candidate The European Commission introduced the first sustainable finance measures in its 2018 Sustainable Finance Action Plan. The Action Plan has the aim of fostering “stability, transparency and long-termism” in the EU economy and “reorienting” private finance towards achievement of the low carbon transition. The measures are part of the […]
Recognizing the Right to a Healthy Environment at the Council of Europe: Why it matters
By Corina Heri, Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Zurich, Linnéa Nordlander, Assistant Professor at University of Copenhagen, and Annalisa Savaresi, Professor at University of Stirling and Associate Professor, University of Eastern Finland. First published in the GNHRE blog on 5 January 2024. Established in 1949, the Council of Europe (CoE) is the world’s oldest human rights system. It now […]
“Historic” or “Historic Failure”? Fossil Fuels at COP28
By Harro van Asselt, Professor of Climate Law and Policy. First published in the EJIL:Talk! Blog on 28 December 2023. Another climate change COP has come and gone. As has become quite common by now, a complex set of intergovernmental negotiations are ultimately reduced to a fight over one particular issue. At the UN Climate Change Conference […]