UCL CPD: EU Law and Policy on Climate Change

About the Course
Climate change poses enormous social, economic and environmental challenges, and the European Union considers itself a world leader in responding to these challenges. The EU now has an ambitious legal and policy framework in place to address climate change, and this framework is of enormous practical significance in a range of areas.

This course examines in detail the different legal tools available in efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change, as well as the substantive legal regimes called upon by the EU.  As well as detailed analysis of the EU’s emissions trading regime, we examine alternative and complementary approaches, and the difficult legal and policy decisions in different sectors, such as renewable energy and transport.

 At the end of the course participants should have:

• A knowledge of the core areas of law and substantive legal principles of the EU response to climate change
• An appreciation of the different regulatory instruments available and the advantages and disadvantages of each

The course will be taught by Professors Maria Lee and Joanne Scott, with some seminars delivered by expert guest lecturers. It is an integral part of the Faculty’s LLM course, but external participants who attend this option can be awarded a Certificate of Attendance from the Faculty of Laws.

Download the course brochure

Course Outline: (subject to change)

• The International Context
• Governance of Climate I: regulatory tools
• Governance of Climate II , III and IV: The EU Emissions Trading Scheme
• Governance of Climate V: Information measures
• Adaptation and mitigation
• Renewable energy: commitments and regulation
• Carbon Capture and Storage – a regulatory dilemma?
• Climate change policy and international trade
• Individuals and climate change

About the teachers:

Professor Maria Lee joined the UCL Faculty in 2007 from King’s College, and specialises in environmental law and tort law. She is the author of EU Environmental Law: Challenges, Change and Decision-Making (2005); Environmental Protection, Law and Policy Text and Materials (2007, with Jane Holder) and EU Regulation of GMOs: Law and Decision Making for a  New Technology  (2008). Maria is a member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution and the London Sustainable Development Commission. She was also a member of the Lancet Commission on climate change and health, which reported in 2009.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/lee

Professor Joanne Scott joined UCL in July 2005 from the University of Cambridge and has been a visiting professor at both Columbia and Harvard Law Schools. Joanne’s main areas of research are in EU Law, WTO Law, and the interface between the two. She is particularly interested in environmental governance. Joanne is the author of Commentary on the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Agreement (OUP, 2007; paperback 2009)  and editor of Environmental Protection: European Law and Governance  (OUP, 2009).  Joanne is a member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, and was a member of the Lancet Commission on climate change and health, which reported in 2009.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/scott

Other CPD courses on Environmental Law run by UCL Law Faculty:
Environmental Governance and Regulation
http://environmental-governance.eventbrite.com/