International Climate Change (Burke-White)
Faculty
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| William W. Burke-White Professor of Law wburkewh@law.upenn.edu |
Additional Information
Skills Training
Other Professional Skills: Students will develop skills in research and writing around international law and national climate adaptation and mitigation plans.
Grading
35% Participation,
65% Paper,
Other (Students will be expected to complete a reserach paper (15-20 pages in length) due at the end of the semester on an aspect or issue of international climate law. In addition, students will complete 3 short research assignments during the course of the semester on particular country mitigation and adaptation plans and on a recent climate litigation. Details are provided on the syllabus.)
With Permission of Instructor
Papers meeting the senior writing requirement must be at least 20 pages in length, in Blue Book form, and involve at least 2 meetings with the professor.
Class meets in person.
Course Continuity
Students are encouraged to stay home if you are ill or experience flu-like symptoms. If you miss a class for any reason, it is still your responsibility to make up the work missed.
I offer the following to students who miss class due to illness:
- Class sessions are regularly recorded. If you are absent due to illness or some other unavoidable circumstance, email me and I can send you an email with instructions for accessing the recording for the class session(s) you missed.
- If you are absent due to illness or some other unavoidable circumstance, email me and I can make PowerPoint slides or other class materials available to you.
Meeting Times/Location
TR 1:30PM - 2:50PM
Gittis Hall 213
Category
Upper-Level
Credits
3.0
The climate is changing, with extraordinary consequences for the human ecosystem. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded in 2023 that “human activities, principally through emissions of greenhouse gases, have unequivocally caused global warming” and that this has led to “widespread adverse impacts and related losses and damages to nature and people.” It is estimated that temperature increases will exceed 2C if significant reductions to carbon outputs are not achieved in the near term. The human, biological, environmental, and financial costs of such a temperature increase are incalculable.
This course explores the international legal and institutional responses to a changing climate and, specifically, efforts to use international law and institutions to mitigate climate change and adapt to a changing climate. The course will give students a broad overview of how international law shapes the battle against climate change, the challenges of reaching climate agreements, mechanisms to finance climate mitigation and adaptation, the implications of climate change for other areas of international law (such as trade, investment, and human rights), and the prospects of using international litigation to address climate change.
The course begins with an exploration of the scientific understandings of human-induced climate change and the evolution of international legal regimes to protect the environment more generally. Thereafter, the class turns to the major legal instruments and institutions designed to address climate change – The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992) and the Paris Agreement (2016)—and assesses their goals, functions, and effectiveness in reducing carbon emissions and preparing states to deal with a changing climate.
A key challenge for both national and international responses to climate change is marshalling the financial resources to mitigate climate emissions and adapt to a changing climate. The course takes on these issues, considering existing frameworks for climate finance, recent breakthroughs in “loss and damage” to provide compensation to countries facing adverse climate impacts, as well as the legal frameworks for carbon pricing and trading. Consideration is also given to the roles played by international financial institutions, bilateral aid, and private investment.
While the international legal effort to combat climate change has been centered around the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, a variety of other international legal regimes – from the protection of biodiversity to human rights, international trade to the protection of foreign direct investment—both impact and are impacted by climate change. The class will explore how these other areas of international law are coming to address climate change and the prospects for using them to combat climate change.
Both domestic and international courts are now grappling directly with key questions around a changing climate. Thousands of cases relating to climate change are now before national courts and key international tribunals, including the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, are expected to hear critical cases in the next few years. The course considers these efforts to use domestic and international litigation to change national governments’ climate-related policies, protect climate migrants, force changes in corporate disclosure policies, and ensure the realization of human rights in light of a changing climate. The course concludes with a look ahead to COP30, the next major UN climate summit, which will take place in November 2025 in Brazil.
Business and Corporate Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of business and corporate law; Perform legal analysis in the context of business and corporate law; Communicate effectively on topics related to business and corporate law; Demonstrate an understanding of the interconnection between the world of business and finance and that of business and corporate law, and how they affect other areas of law and society.
International and Comparative Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of international and comparative law, both substantively and procedurally; Perform legal analysis in the context of international and comparative law; Communicate effectively on topics related to international and comparative law; Demonstrate an understanding of the role of international and comparative law, and their interconnection with domestic law.
Courts and the Judicial System Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of both substantive and procedural issues in the operation of our legal system; Perform legal analysis in the context of procedural issues and the judicial process; Communicate effectively on topics related to procedure and the judicial process; Demonstrate an understanding of how procedural issues and the judicial process affect all other area of our legal system.
International Corporate and Trade Law
Environmental Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of environmental law; Perform legal analysis in the context of environmental law; Communicate effectively on topics related to environmental law; Demonstrate an understanding of how environmental law affects other areas of law.
Public Interest Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of the varied legal aspects of public interest law; Perform legal analysis in the context of public interest law; Communicate effectively on topics related to public interest law; Demonstrate an understanding of how public interest law is connected to and affected by a wide variety of legal and regulatory structures and doctrines.