05 June 2026
Decorative by Design
FIFA’s climate criteria for World Cup hosts borrow the authority of international climate law without any enforcement consequence. The 2026 host country’s withdrawal from the parent treaty regime exposes the borrowing as decorative. On 11 June 2026, the US opens the tournament that promised environmental leadership and an emissions trajectory aligned with the Paris Agreement. FIFA treats this contradiction as a non-event. What exactly do FIFA climate criteria oblige, and through what mechanism? The answer, on close reading, is that they oblige very little. Continue reading >>
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04 June 2026
Nach dem Overshoot
Die verfassungsrechtliche Beurteilung der Klimapolitik hat sich bisher an Obergrenzen der atmosphärischen Erwärmung orientiert. Sie wird neu herausgefordert, wenn diese Grenzen überschritten werden. Die Frage, wie mit dieser Herausforderung umzugehen ist, stellt sich derzeit in mehreren anhängigen Verfahren. Dieser Beitrag macht einen Vorschlag, der in diesen Verfahren vielleicht gehört werden kann. Er lenkt die Aufmerksamkeit vom Kalkulieren und Zuteilen von Emissionsbudgets auf die Suche nach dem, was an Emissionsvermeidung technisch, ökonomisch und sozial machbar ist. Continue reading >>
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03 June 2026
Das Heizungsgesetz, die Demokratie und der Rechtsstaat
Die deutsche Wirtschaft steckt in der Krise. Um „Überregulierung“ und „Bürokratisierung“ abzubauen, rückt zunehmend das Umwelt- und Klimaschutzrecht in den Fokus. Vor diesem Hintergrund ist eine Debatte entbrannt, ob die geplante Änderung des Heizungsgesetzes gegen (verfassungs-)rechtliche Vorgaben verstößt. Zugleich wird diskutiert, ob im Umwelt- und Klimaschutz eine mit Blick auf das Demokratieprinzip problematische „Überkonstitutionalisierung“ besteht. Continue reading >>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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11 September 2025
International Law’s Administrative Law Turn and the Paris Agreement
In the recent Advisory Opinion on States’ Obligations in respect of Climate Change, various remarks by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) lean into an increasingly “administrative” law turn in international law. In this blog post, we investigate this phenomenon by looking at the ways in which States’ preparation, communication, and maintenance of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement are coming to be characterised by requirements or standards with a domestic administrative law tone. Continue reading >>
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24 July 2025
The ICJ’s Advisory Opinion on Climate Change
“An existential threat” – this is how the International Court of Justice (ICJ) characterized climate change in its long-awaited advisory opinion on the obligations of States with respect to climate change. In the most significant development in international climate law since the adoption of the Paris Agreement, the ICJ outlined numerous obligations that could significantly shape the contours of international environmental law and global climate governance. Continue reading >>
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30 December 2024
From Objectives to Obligations
On December 13, 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concluded the hearings of the advisory proceedings on State obligations in respect of Climate Change. On the last day of the hearings, judges posed four questions to participants to be answered within a one-week timeframe. The Judges enquired about State obligations in relation to fossil fuels; the interpretation of Article 4 of the Paris Agreement; the content of the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment; and the significance of declarations made by some States on becoming parties to the UN climate treaties. This blog post will provide a brief exploration of the first two questions and issues raised. Continue reading >>
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15 November 2024
Towards a Bundle of Duties
This week’s decision in Shell v Milieudefensie from the Hague Court of Appeals seemed like a blow to climate litigation: Milieudefensie was ultimately unsuccessful in convincing the Court that it could transpose a global requirement for 45% emissions reductions by 2030 into an obligation for a particular actor. Yet, the Court of Appeals decision marks considerable progress in how we understand the civil liability of large Dutch economic actors for their contributions to climate change. Continue reading >>
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16 June 2024
‘Relevant Rules’ as Normative Environment
On 21 May 2024, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) delivered its much anticipated Advisory Opinion on Climate Change. This post zeroes in on one particular interpretative issue, and its wider ramifications for the development of international law, namely the Tribunal’s approach to Article 31(3)(c) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) (which enshrines the principle of systemic integration) in connection with the interpretation of UNCLOS. Although ITLOS did not elaborate in detail on its approach, as can be seen from its entire analysis, the Tribunal has demonstrated a clear and principled choice with respect to the content and application of Article 31(3)(c) VCLT and its customary counterpart. Continue reading >>
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25 April 2024
The Paris Effect
The judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the case Verein KlimaSeniorinnen v. Switzerland is a striking example of the Paris effect: the influence of the non-binding collective goals of the Paris Agreement (PA) on the interpretation of domestic constitutional law or international human rights law in climate litigation. The Court’s decision proves to be an essential element in triggering the necessary democratic debates on which the PA relies “from the bottom up”. Reinforcing the procedural limb of Art. 8 ECHR will be an essential step towards further strengthening democratic decision-making in the societal transition to climate neutrality. Continue reading >>
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