Short Course: Climate Change Law

Course Details

This course provides a comprehensive overview of Climate Change Law as an evolving field of knowledge, governance, and legal practice, as well as its responses to the climate crisis. Bringing together a distinguished cohort of leading scholars, the course is designed to provide participants with a working knowledge of the relevant legal frameworks as well as to enhance their understanding of the way climate change impacts other areas including human rights, trade, investment, sustainable finance, insurance, and corporate responsibility. Through an interdisciplinary approach, the course enhances understanding of the legal challenges and opportunities in global climate governance.

By the end of the course, participants will:

• Have a clear understanding of the principal elements of International and Comparative Climate Change Law;
• Have a comprehension of the complex (scientific, economic, political and legal) framework of climate change issues;
• Better understand the international regime and the global governance of climate change, including as it relates to other areas of international law;
• Be able to critically assess the legal tools and principles related to climate change;
• Be able to analyse the principal challenges relating to the implementation and compliance of climate change law;
• Be able to identify national and international initiatives and opportunities for climate change action.

   
Course topics:

• United Nations Climate Change Regime
  Ivano Alogna, Senior Research Fellow in Environmental and Climate Change Law and Director of the Global Toolbox on Corporate Climate Litigation, British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL)
  
• Principles of Climate Change Law
  Philippe Cullet, Professor of International and Environmental Law and Director of the Law, Environment and Development Centre, University of London - School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)
  
• Climate Change Legal Mechanisms
  Michael A. Mehling, Deputy Director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Professor of Practice, University of Strathclyde Law School
  
• Territory, Sovereignty, and Legal Responsibility for Climate Change
  Malgosia Fitzmaurice, Professor of Public International Law, Department of Law, Queen Mary University of London
  
• Climate Change Litigation
  Joana Setzer, Associate Professor, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, LSE
  
• Human Rights and Climate Change
  Annalisa Savaresi, Professor of Law at the University of Stirling and at the Centre for Climate Change, Energy and Environmental Law, University of Eastern Finland
  
• Business & Human Rights and Climate Change
  Irene Pietropaoli, Senior Fellow in Business and Human Rights, BIICL, and Dr Jasmine Elliott, Research Fellow in Business and Human Rights, BIICL
  
• Insurance and Climate Change
  Franziska Arnold-Dwyer, Associate Professor of Law, University College London, and Global Law Professor in Insurance Law at KU Leuven
  
• Sustainable Finance and Climate Change
  Megan Bowman, Professor of Law and founding Director of the King's Centre for Climate Law & Governance, King's College London
• Trade, Investment and Climate Change
  Markus W. Gehring, Professor of European and International Law and Director of Studies in Law at Hughes Hall, Fellow of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, and Deputy Proctor, University of Cambridge
  

Download the programme

Course leader

Dr Ivano Alogna, Senior Research Fellow in Environmental and Climate Change Law, British Institute of International and Comparative Law.

Who is the course for?

This course would benefit practitioners in private law firms and NGOs; civil servants, provincial departments and local authorities; environmental managers in private sector; civil society organisations; activists, academics and students.

Course format

The virtual course format will consist of a series of 10 sessions in which live (synchronous) teaching is offered via Zoom. Participants will be able to interact with the tutors and amongst themselves on screen.

Testimonials from past attendees

"A great overview of this important area of law covering varied and relevant facets of the subject."
"Good management, timely sessions and excellent facilitators""...the content was relevant and thought provoking."
"It covers important salient issues in this area of law in a way that bridges both theory and practice."

Training scholarships

We are delighted to be able to offer scholarships designed to enable individuals from communities currently under-represented in the legal field to access our world-class courses and benefit from unparalleled learning experiences.

Scholarships are aimed at 3 categories: individuals from communities and backgrounds that are under-represented in the legal field in the UK and abroad; individuals who have recently received a needs-based bursary from their university or further-education college and representatives from Small Charities, NGOs, and Community-Based Organisations.

Applications for training scholarships must be received at least three weeks ahead of the course start date (25 March 2026). Applications must be made via the online form and applications received via any other means will not be considered.

Find out more and apply for a scholarship

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