Global Climate Change Law

CCEEL is at the forefront of climate change law, a specialized field addressing the urgent global challenge of climate change.

Our team of 30 international experts focuses on the implementation of the 2015 Paris Agreement through national, EU, and transnational climate law. Key research areas include climate justice and human rights, governance and litigation, just transition, UN negotiations, EU climate law, carbon markets, climate-trade law intersections, corporate climate law, regulation of short-lived pollutants, adaptation, gender issues, forests, and theoretical frameworks in climate law.

Our team is dedicated to driving social impact. Our members have provided legal support in Finland’s first climate litigation case and are actively involved in shaping policy on national, EU, and international levels. 

We also offer annual training for diplomats on international environmental law and diplomacy, in partnership with United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Dedicated to social impact, our team shapes policy across national and international levels, and partners with UNEP to train diplomats in environmental law and diplomacy.

Our research topics are:

• The United Nations climate change regime, including the 2015 Paris Agreement
• European Union climate law and policy
• Legitimacy of climate policy and climate justice issues
• Human rights and climate change, public participation and climate change litigation 
• National framework laws on climate change and implementation of the Paris Agreement 
• Forests and climate change
• Regulation of short-lived climate pollutants
• Links between climate change and trade law, including border carbon adjustments and other trade measures 
• The role of non-state actors in international climate change law and governance, including the role of cities
• Theoretical aspects of climate change law and governance (global and transnational environmental law, polycentric climate governance, new governance, critical international law)
• The role of science
• Governance of climate tipping points’ risks
• Climate and sustainable finance

Research Group Director

Kati Kulovesi

Professors

• Annalisa Savaresi
• Yulia Yamineva
• Sebastian Oberthür (Part-time)
• Harro van Asselt (Part-time)
• Elisa Morgera (Adjunct Professor, UN Special Rapporteur on Climate Change and Human Rights)

Senior and Postdoctoral Researchers

• Eugenia Recio
• Kateryna Holzer
• Lauri Petersson
• Tuula Honkonen
• Hermann Aubié

Doctoral Researchers

• Adrian Martinez
• Alice Bisiaux
• Catherine Hall
• Eveliina Laine
• Katri Varis
• Maiju Mähönen
• Moritz Petersmann
• Nicola Sharman
• Niklas Löther
• Nina Koistinen
• Raihanatul Jannat, Coordinator of the Master’s Degree Programme in Environmental Policy and Law
• Reza Maddahi
• Saga Eriksson
• Sara Kymenvaara
• Sara Tolonen
• Tatu Hocksell
• Thiago Chagas
• Tuomas Palosaari
• Vandson dos Santos Galdino
• Veera Pekkarinen
• Vilja Johansson
• Vivien Reh

Research assistants

• Ana Maria Botero, CCEEL Coordinator
• Veera Kankare, Project Researcher

Completed doctorates

Patrick Toussaint, Towards Equitable Climate Governance: strengthening the role of climate victims in addressing loss and damage under the international climate regime

Seita Vesa, New Governance in Context: Evaluating the EU biofuels regime

Rosemary Mwanza, Beyond rhetoric: Can environmental rights provide effective remedies for corporate environmental pollution in the extractive industry in Kenya?

María Eugenia Recio, Multiple layers of governance and regulations in forests: Exploring challenges and opportunities for the future REDD+ landscape