The Climate Regime and Public International Law

This workshop will assess current trajectories of the climate regime in the context of public international law and in the wake of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.Themes include intersections between climate change and human rights, climate change and trade and investment law, climate change and oceans governance, climate change and decarbonisation, and international climate litigation. Participants will be invited to depart from the pragmatic, state-oriented discussions of COP27 and offer scholarly analysis and critique. Rights and obligations of states, subnational entities, international organisations and other actors will be assessed. Papers will draw on a variety of methodologies, including historical work, empirical country-based engagement, and a focus on how the COP’s sphere of professional specialisation sits alongside other regimes of international law. The participants will be PhD students, Early Career Researchers and senior academics from Melbourne Law School and the University of Cambridge.

The discussants at the workshop will include Prof Margaret Young, Dr Markus Gehring and Prof Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger, in addition to Professor Jacqueline Peel (online).

To express interest in presenting at this workshop, please send a one page PDF document comprising a short abstract of your paper and half page bio by email to LP-GCIL@unimelb.edu.au by 14 November 2022 with ‘Cambridge Climate Workshop 2022’ in the subject line. Please name the document with your surname in caps, i.e. SMITH. Accepted presenters will be notified before 18 November 2022.

This is a local workshop designed to focus on scholars based in the UK, alongside scholars from the Melbourne Law School. There is no registration fee, and food over the two days will be provided, but there is no general travel support available. There is no online/hybrid element at this workshop.

The workshop and the participation of MLS Faculty and PhD students are supported by a Cambridge Law Faculty - Melbourne Law School Partnership Grant, the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, and the Institute for International Law and the Humanities.