Phasing Out Fossil Fuels Under International Law: Why and How?
Friday 13 December 2024
Co-hosted by the Institute for International Law and the Humanities and the Melbourne Centre for Law and the Environment. This seminar was presented by Professor Harro van Asselt and chaired by Professor Margaret Young
At the UN Climate Summit in 2023, the fight over a fossil fuel phase-out took centre stage, resulting in a decision calling on countries to ‘transition away’ from fossil fuels. Professor van Asselt first examined why there have been growing calls for a fossil fuel phase-out, and why international law should play a role in governing the transition away from fossil fuels. Next, he discussed the international regulation of phasing out fossil fuels, focusing on climate change law, human rights law, and investment law. Lastly, he explored options for reform, including through the international climate change regime as well as through a proposed fossil fuel treaty.
View the webinar recording
About the speaker
Professor Harro van Asselt holds the Hatton Professorship in Climate Law at the University of Cambridge. At Cambridge he is also a Law Fellow at Hughes Hall. He is also a Professor of Climate Law and Policy at the University of Eastern Finland Law School, and an Affiliated Researcher with the Stockholm Environment Institute. He has held visiting research and/or teaching positions at a number of leading international institutions, including Utrecht University, the University of Georgia, the University of Strathclyde, Bar-Ilan University, the Tokyo Institute of Technology, and the Finnish Institute for International Affairs. He is also a Senior Research Fellow with the Earth System Governance project and a Steering Committee member of its Task Force on Earth System Law, a member of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law, and a member of Climate Strategies, and he has been a member of the International Law Association Committee on Sustainable Development and the Green Economy in International Trade Law and a member of the E15 Expert Group on Measures to Address Climate Change and the Trade System, hosted by the World Economic Forum and the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development.