Climate Change

URL study guide

https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/courses/2024-2025/R_ClimCLIS

Course Objective

(a) Subject-specific learning outcomes Upon successful completion of this course, the student will:
- form a critical understanding of how treaty law and multilateral treaties on climate change deal with the issue of climate mitigation
- develop a coherent understanding of the main principles, institutions and key primary and secondary rules of general international law in dealing with climate change
- comprehend the role of corporations and corporate law in contributing to and dealing with climate change
- comprehend the nature of debates and limitations of international criminal law in holding corporations responsible for acts or omissions related to climate change (b) Academic learning outcomes
- be able to read, understand and analyze legal and academic texts and arguments related to climate change, including cases and international legal instruments
- be able to read understand and analyze scientific and scholarly materials from other disciplines in a way that can inform the constructions of legally relevant facts and arguments
- be able to critically reflect on the significance of climate change for societies and ecosystems
- be able to apply the variety of sources and legal doctrines in the context of specific regimes (primarily, the international climate change regime, EU Law) (c) Social and communication learning outcomes By the end of this course, the student is able to
- complete research tasks in collaboration with other students; rationally organize the team’s collaborative process, identifying an appropriate way of collaboration (e.g. dividing the tasks) and taking the different skills and backgrounds of the team members into consideration
- communicate findings and opinions relating to the legal dimension of climate change in a scientifically substantiated manner, and adapt to the specific (e.g. cultural or educational) background of different audiences. (d) Study skills and professional orientation By the end of this course, the student is able to
- reflect on their personal role as well as that of other legal and non-legal professionals in the context of climate change.

Course Content

As the first course of the sustainability track of the Law in Society programme, “Climate Change” focuses on how law is shaped and mobilized for climate action, primarily at the international level. Having at its center this question, the course engages students on topics of public international law, private law (company law), and criminal law. The climate crisis confronts lawyers with many challenges coming from three main dimensions to the problem. First, the anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions that cause the warming of the atmosphere –with their effects on societies and ecosystems– know no boundary. Second, the causes and effects of climate change are uneven. Centuries of colonial expansion of the West and industrial growth make developed countries and those within them somehow responsible for the current state of the climate. Yet, the consumption-based model of the global economic model, has also led to the emergence of other ‘big polluter states’ such as China or India. Other states with less capacity are instead already severely impacted, despite having contributed little to the problem. Third, corporations are also under fire for their environmental damages over the centuries. Just like states, transnational corporations are seen as the problem, but they should also be part of the solution. At the same time, criminalizing extreme forms of pollution by individuals and corporations as ‘ecocide’ might hold the promise to impart a form of climate justice and deterrence. After introducing scientific aspects of climate change and issues of climate justice, the course will look at the legal response to the current climate crisis on three interlacing themes: ● States cooperation and compliance on climate change at the multilateral level ● State responsibility and dispute settlement in the context of climate litigation ● The role of corporations and corporate law ● (International) corporate criminal liability in relation to climate change

Teaching Methods

Weekly lectures that will take place on campus only; Weekly workgroups which will also run on campus only and whose attendance will be taken. Failing to attend more than two seminars will result in having to take an extra assignment during the resit period.

Method of Assessment

1
- Seminars attendance 2
- Mid-term group assignment 3
- Final essay or exam