COP29 and Its Implications for Carbon Capture and Storage Technology
By Reza Maddahi, PhD Researcher The 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) concluded in November 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Billed as a ‘technical COP’, this conference focused primarily on solidifying financial mechanisms and technical rules within the Paris Agreement framework. Key outcomes included the establishment of the ‘new collective quantified goal’ […]
Carbon Capture and Utilization under EU Law: A Step Towards Carbon Neutrality
By Reza Maddahi, PhD Researcher Source: International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (2022) The European Union (EU) is on a complex journey to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Among the strategies being employed, carbon capture and utilization (CCU) has become a crucial approach alongside carbon capture and storage (CCS). Both technologies play a significant […]
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 […]
“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 […]
Climate COP-28: What is all the hype about, what exactly is it that COPs do in legal terms?
By Tuula Honkonen, Senior Lecturer of International Law. First published in the 2035Legitimacy blog on 1 December 2023. In the advent of yet another UN Climate Change Conference, it is relevant to ask what these massive gatherings produce in legal terms. What exactly are the COP decisions that are the main legal outcome of the […]
Challenging established legal doctrines in the face of the climate crisis: Four legal experts assess the outcome of the Finnish climate case
By Kristiina Ella Markkanen. First published in English on the 2035Legitimacy blog on 26 October 2023 and first published in Finnish on the 2035Legitimacy blog on 13 September 2023. In November 2022, Greenpeace Nordic and the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation launched legal proceedings against the Finnish Government arguing that its inadequate climate action violated the Finnish Climate […]