Project Climate Change Law in Europe
The Centre for Climate Law and Sustainability Studies (CLASS) is involved in the international project Climate Change Law in Europe, supported by the Flemish Grant Agency FWO in 2022–2027.
FWO project brought a climate law summer school
8. 9. 2024
A two-day summer school on climate law was held at Hasselt University on August 26–27. The first day brought four thematic sessions on legal solutions to climate change, each session opened with a lecture and followed with a discussion. Hana Müllerová from CLASS, together with Prof. Wouter Vandenhole from the University of Antwerp, gave a lecture on human rights in climate change law, specifically on Responding to the climate crisis: Universalizing human rights in time and space. The first day of the summer school was completed with a keynote by Prof. Dr. Solange Teles da Silva (Mackenzie Presbyterian University – Brazil, online). During the second day, we were listening to two series of short presentations of PhD students and postdocs who then received feedback to their topics.
Summer School on climate law at the Hasselt University – Call for papers
19. 4. 2024
We invite young legal scholars to submit abstracts for the Climate Law Summer School. Hasselt University, together with the FWO project partners, including the CLASS Centre, is organising a summer school at the end of August, primarily for postdocs, but also open to PhD students. Here we present the four main topics of the summer school:
- Just transition to a low carbon economy.
- Human rights in climate change law.
- Biodiversity protection in climate change law.
- Governance innovation, including climate change litigation, in climate change law.
The two-day event will start with lectures and discussions on these topics on the first day. On the second day, the participants will have the opportunity to present their own research. If you are interested, submit your abstract by the end of May 2024. There is no fee for the summer school. The organizer will cover travel and accommodation costs for accepted postdocs (not PhD students, unfortunately).
You will find the full call for abstracts here.
Speakers' presentations from the FWO international workshop Greenwashing and Climate Change available for viewing
23. 5. 2023
If you are interested in the topic of greenwashing in relation to climate change from a legal point of view, but you did not have the opportunity to attend the international workshop we held on this topic on 12 May, you can now listen to the presentations of all the speakers. You can find the video recording on the YouTube channel of our Centre here.
Content:
1. Welcome address and introductory remarks
2. Elias Van Gool (KU Leuven and Université de Lille): Understanding climate-related greenwashing as a legal issue
3. Rita Simon (Institute of State and Law, Czech Academy of Sciences): Sustainable consumption and greenwashing (reflecting on the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive)
4. Gamze Erdem Türkelli (Law and Development Research Group, University of Antwerp): Greenwashing and development financing
5. Petra Koudelková (Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University): The awareness of greenwashing among Czech consumers
6. Ekaterina Aristova (Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, University of Oxford): Greenwashing climate change litigation
7. Emilie Jane Coutin (Highbridge Law Firm, Copenhagen): The new approach to greenwashing under the EU Taxonomy Regulation
8. Monika Feigerlová (Institute of State and Law, Czech Academy of Sciences): Climate responsibility under a draft Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive
9. Matteo Fermeglia (Hasselt University): The EU regulation on carbon removals: Charting muddy waters?
10. Closing remarks
International workshop Greenwashing and climate change: legal perspectives
24. 4. 2023
The Centre for Climate Law and Sustainability Studies (CLASS) of the Institute of State and Law of the CAS in cooperation with the FWO Scientific Research Network 'Climate Change Law in Europe' cordially invites you to the international workshop "Greenwashing and climate change: legal perspectives".
Date: 12 May 2023 from 9:30 am to 1 pm CET
Venue: Akademie věd ČR, Národní 3, Prague 1 / room 108 + online.
The registration form, including the choice of attendance in person or online, is here: https://cesnet.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0tcuiorDotEtZO4YTbI4rIVr5EFwHEx30z
Due to organizational reasons the possibility to select in-person attendance will be closed one week before the date of the event; then it will only be possible to register for online participation.
For more information, please see the invitation.
CLASS is a member of the international project consortium FWO SRN Climate Change Law in Europe
17. 12. 2022
The CLASS Centre is involved in a project to establish a network of academic centres in the field of climate law in Europe, supported by the Flemish Grant Agency FWO.
This Scientific Research Network seeks to contribute to legal innovation in Climate Change Law in Europe. Its geographical scope is limited to the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK). Its research, however, will not be limited to EU and domestic Climate Change Law. Insofar as it is relevant for Climate Change Law in the EU and the UK, the international legal and governance framework and other regional frameworks (UNECE, ECHR, …) will also be involved. The network partners will work together on four key issues:
- A just transition to a low carbon economy;
- Human rights in Climate Change Law;
- Biodiversity protection in Climate Change Law;
- Governance innovation in Climate Change Law.
CLASS is co-coordinating pillar two on human rights.
The UHasselt Environmental Law Unit (ELU) is coordinating the network.
The other network partners are:
- UGent Centre for Environmental and Energy Law,
- UAntwerpen Law and Development Research Group,
- Centre for International Law and Governance (CILG) of the University of Copenhagen,
- Centre for Climate Change, Energy and Environmental Law of the University of Eastern Finland (UEF)
- the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance (SCELG) of the University of Strathclyde (Scotland), and
- Centre for Climate Law and Sustainability Studies (CLASS) of the Institute of State and Law of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
Witgin the project, project partners will organise workshops and conferences, prepare joint publications, organise postdoctoral exchanges and visits to the participating institutions. A summer school on climate law at Hasselt University will also take place in 2023.
Period of the project: 10 October 2022 - 31 December 2027
Workshops held within the project Climate Change Law in Europe:
12. 5. 2023 Workshop Greenwashing and climate change: legal perspectives organised by the Institute of State and Law CAS (CLASS): program + video recording of presentations
22. 11. 2022 Workshop Justice for the voiceless: human rights of future generations in climate change law organised by University of Antwerp: program
16. 12. 2022 Workshop Technological breakthroughs for climate neutrality in Europe: Challenges and Perspectives organised by University of Hasselt: program