29 October 2026
Waiting or Pushing?
On 19 October 2026, the UK Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero agreed to the grant of consent by the Oil and Gas Authority for the Jackdaw gas field project under the Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration, Production, Unloading and Storage (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2020. The decision deserves close attention by climate and energy lawyers both for its compatibility with the remaining global carbon budget and for its treatment of scope 3 emissions. T Continue reading >>
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28 October 2026
France’s Ban on Fossil Fuel Advertising and Its European Implications
The French Conseil d’État’s judgment of 2 October 2026 reaffirms the government’s obligation to give practical effect to environmental legislation by establishing a clear framework for fossil fuel advertising. Beyond strengthening legal certainty and transparency, it raises fundamental questions about the balance between climate protection, commercial freedom and the prevention of misleading environmental claims, while potentially informing future regulatory developments across Europe. Continue reading >>
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10 September 2026
“But the Court Is Only a Court”
We should not tolerate a condition in which all eyes are on international law, but precisely when it is needed the most, it remains unenforceable. Keeping calm and carrying on should mean keeping our eyes open not only about what is desirable for the world, but also on what can realize such desires here and now. If we offload that responsibility and bask in our own legal purity, we do that only at our own expense. Continue reading >>
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03 September 2026
Who Can Demand Justification for the EU’s Climate Ambition?
On 2 September 2026, the General Court handed down its judgment in Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) and CAN-Europe v Commission (T-120/24). Its central conclusion was to be expected. The EU’s Aarhus Regulation cannot be used to challenge indirectly a level of climate ambition fixed by the EU legislature. An implementing power does not allow the Commission to rewrite legislation, even indirectly. However, we see the constitutional significance of the judgment elsewhere Continue reading >>
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16 July 2026
A Human Right to be Fossil Fuel Free?
Australia is a country highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, with the weathered, arid continent frequently buffeted by fires, floods, heatwaves and storms. It is also one of the largest exporters globally of fossil fuels, coal and gas. Situated close to Pacific Islands existentially threatened by climate-fuelled rising seas, Australia is a constitutional democracy with an active civil society, an abiding commitment to the rule of international law and this year holds the role of “President of the Negotiations” for the UN climate summit, COP31. These contradictory forces play out in Australia’s domestic climate policy and are at the heart of a new international complaint – labelled the “Hard Truths” case. Continue reading >>
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01 July 2026
Learning from Each Other
The relationship between the world's regional human rights courts has undergone a quiet but consequential transformation over the past decade. What began as occasional, informal exchanges among judges and registries — encounters at conferences, the mutual citation of landmark judgments, coordinated submissions to United Nations human rights bodies — has matured into something more deliberate and structurally significant. This blog post examines that transformation from the perspective of the Inter-American Court by attending closely to the three dimensions in which cooperation actually operates. Continue reading >>
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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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