26 June 2026
Mapping the Future
On 25 June 2026, the Paris Judicial Court became the first court to rule on the merits of Notre Affaire à Tous and others v. TotalEnergies SE. At its core, the case concerns whether TotalEnergies violated the French Commercial Code by failing to adequately report the climate risks associated with its activities and take action to mitigate those risks in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement. The decision demonstrates that a domestic due diligence statute can reach the full climate footprint of a global energy major. Continue reading >>
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19 June 2026
Climate Change and the Environment at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
The relationship between climate change and human rights has occupied international legal scholarship for more than two decades. Yet for much of that period, the relationship remained largely aspirational — acknowledged in soft-law instruments and scholarly commentary, but only partially operationalized by binding international adjudication. Advisory Opinion OC-32/25, adopted by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR or the Court) on May 29, 2025, marks a decisive shift in that landscape. Continue reading >>
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04 May 2026
The Fuel Price Blockades in Ireland
April 2026 has been the most politically charged month in Ireland in recent memory. Irish roads, ports and refineries across the country were blocked with tractors and heavy agricultural and haulage vehicles over the course of the week starting April 7. Essential services were compromised, and several parts of the country came to a halt. Contrary to media commentary, the blockade enabled a union of fossil capital and racial capital. Continue reading >>22 December 2025
Europe’s Climate Crisis Is a Rule-of-Law Crisis
After watering down the 2040 emission reduction target, running the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive over by the Omnibus, and now attempting to kill the combustion engine ban, European climate governance has entered the territory of lawlessness. European climate governance is no longer only about the climate. It has become a rule of law issue and should be treated as such. Continue reading >>
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24 November 2025
Shaping the EU’s 2040 Climate Target
The EU appears close to enshrining its 2040 climate target in the European Climate Law, an important milestone in the EU’s journey toward the Law’s overarching goal of climate neutrality by 2050. However, the 2040 target will be less ambitious than recommended and not living up to standards of international fairness. Furthermore, important review and implementing provisions of the amended Climate Law will be weakened, along with existing substantive climate legislation. Continue reading >>
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02 November 2025
Looking for an African Perspective on the ICJ’s Climate Advisory Opinion
Despite the fact that Africa, as a continent, has contributed the least to climate change and is already suffering some of the worst of its impacts, with almost no financial support or relief from historical polluters, African concerns, arguments, and solutions got little attention in the ICJ advisory opinion. While Tadi and Sebutinde called on African idioms to articulate their response to the opinion, they fell short of articulating an African perspective on the obligations of States in relation to climate change. Continue reading >>
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24 October 2025
Rethinking Highest Possible Ambition
States classify a large portion of agricultural emissions as “hard to abate”, framing them as residual emissions which must be compensated through removals. As other sectors decarbonise more rapidly, persistent agricultural emissions pose a significant obstacle to achieving the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target, underscoring the growing importance of reducing emissions in this sector to restoring a pathway consistent with returning to 1.5°C as quickly as possible. Continue reading >>
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20 October 2025
The Case for a Global Ban on Industrial Animal Agriculture by 2050
We propose a global ban on industrial animal agriculture by 2050 because this food system causes massive, unnecessary, and transboundary harm to humans, animals, and the environment. Addressing these harms requires international coordination, inspired by successful efforts to regulate or ban other harmful products or processes, ranging from mercury and tobacco to child labor and torture of enemy combatants. This contribution summarizes the key legal rationale, precedents, and instruments for our proposed ban. Continue reading >>
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20 October 2025
Towards the True Price of Meat
Despite mounting scientific and ethical consensus about the multiple harms of meat production for animals, humans and the environment, current regulatory frameworks largely fail to internalise these costs. On the one hand, animal agriculture is resource-intensive, contributing significantly to climate change, deforestation, water pollution, and biodiversity loss. On the other, it entails systemic ethical issues with regard to the breeding, keeping and killing of animals. This contribution explores the legal feasibility of a cap-and-trade system for meat designed to address the multifaceted harms of animal agriculture and to push meat products closer to their true price. Continue reading >>
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10 October 2025
Transforming the Livestock Sector through Climate Change Mitigation Law
Increasingly, the climate impact of our diet is being recognised. The uncomfortable knowledge that the contents of our dinners can affect planetary health makes the issue of mitigating these emissions contentious, particularly with regard to our consumption of animal products. The role law has historically played and is still playing in creating the current levels of livestock production is often displaced in this debate – instead, we often focus on individual consumer choice or the perceived responsibility of farmers to consider sustainability in their farming practices. Continue reading >>
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