“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 […]
Historic inquiry holds the Carbon Majors accountable for the impacts of climate change in the Philippines
By Annalisa Savaresi, Associate Professor of International Environmental Law and Margaretha Wewerinke Singh, Assistant Professor of Public International Law. First published in the GNHRE blog on 10 May 2022. On 6 May 2022, the Human Rights Commission of the Philippines released the findings of a pathbreaking inquiry into the responsibility for the impacts of climate change […]
The UN Human Rights Council recognizes the right to a healthy environment and appoints a new Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Climate Change. What does it all mean?
UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré
The case for an EU grand climate strategy
By Sebastian Oberthür and Claire Dupont. First published as an Opinion on EURACTIV, 10 June 2021. Photo by Christian Lue on Unsplash. The time has come for the EU to move its international climate leadership to the next stage and upgrade the external dimension of the European Green Deal by developing an integrated EU grand climate […]
Where do countries stand in UN climate negotiations after 2020?
By Dr Yulia Yamineva, Senior Researcher, and Dr Jen Allan, Lecturer at Cardiff University, UK. Photo credit: IISD/Earth Negotiations Bulletin The UN Convention on Climate Change is holding its intersessional meetings from 31 May to 17 June in a virtual mode. This is the first official meeting since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic as only […]
Friends of the Earth (Netherlands) v Royal Dutch Shell: Human rights and the obligations of corporations in the Hague District Court decision
By Annalisa Savaresi and Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh. First published in The Global Network for Human Rights and the Environment (GNHRE) blog on 31 May 2021. Photo by Lawrence Makoona on Unsplash. After its landmark ruling in the Urgenda case in 2015, on 25 May 2021 the Hague District Court marked another milestone in the history of climate litigation worldwide by ordering Royal […]
Keeping fossil fuels in the ground: From slogan to legal obligation?
By Harro Van Asselt. First published in the University of Oslo, Blogging for Sustainability on 31 May 2021. Photo by Liam Briese on Unsplash. Last week’s ruling by the Hague District Court in the Netherlands ordering the oil and gas company Royal Dutch Shell – the parent company of the broader Shell group – to reduce its […]
Shell-shocked: a watershed moment for climate litigation against fossil fuel companies
Harro van Asselt, Kati Kulovesi, Mikko Rajavuori and Annalisa Savaresi. Photo by Marc Rentschler on Unsplash. The Netherlands is no longer known just for its tulips, windmills and bicycles. Its latest export product is climate change litigation. Following 1.5 years after the Dutch Supreme Court in Urgenda decided that the Dutch government should step up its emission reduction […]
Will the new EU taxonomy bring stricter ecological requirements for hydropower?
By Suvi-Tuuli Puharinen & Antti Belinskij. Puharinen is a PhD researcher and Belinskij is Professor of Environmental Law at the Center for Climate Change, Energy and Environmental Law of the University of Eastern Finland. Both contribute to the SUSHYDRO -project financed by the Academy of Finland. This blog post is based on the Finnish language […]
Nord Stream 2 and EU Energy Law
Kim Talus, Professor of European Economic and Energy Law. Photo by Fré Sonneveld on Unsplash. The Nord Stream 2 project and its predecessor Nord Stream 1 are well-known international pipeline projects. Nord Stream 2 will, when completed, bring gas from Russia to Germany and the offshore section of the pipeline will extend over around 1200 kilometers […]