The Energy and Climate Change Law Institute, a leading postgraduate law school within the Centre for Commercial Law Studies at Queen Mary, has published its Law Review exploring the legal and technical issues involved in securing effective progress towards net zero.
Academics across the University have all penned articles on a range of matters, which are centred around the themes of:
The review is also shaped by input from leading lawyers, scientists, regulators and policymakers from outside the University. They have all come together to offer discussion and solutions on what needs to be done to help meet the net zero aim.
As Lord Carnwath CVO, Former Justice of the UK Supreme Court notes in the issue, the law is playing a central role in forcing the pace of change in addressing climate-related matters and the review provides a valuable reference for those who follow all the latest changes. Its structure and framework was devised by Professor Stephen Tromans, a visiting professor at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies.
Dr Joe Briscoe, Reader in Energy Materials & Devices at Queen Mary co-writes on how to make technical expertise a reality for managing climate change. He argues that while the government has implemented a number of initiatives to make the country greener, more can certainly be done to harness the substantial amounts of both capital and talent the country possesses.
Professor James Dallas, Executive Director of the Energy Law Institute also contributes alongside alumnus Tara Theiss with an insightful article on the ethical issues around climate change, and its role in determining policies and solutions. In this, he advises that: “the dogged pursuit of one right and morally irreproachable answer to each of the ethical questions thrown up by climate change is a search for the Holy Grail, which will merely inhibit the identification of pragmatic, effective and efficient solutions.”
Current postgraduate student Giuseppe Candela reviews the effectiveness of the regulations adopted by the various policymakers around climate change finance, and also proposes possible alternative scenarios to counter the drawbacks in ‘An overview of the multiplicity of actors of climate change law in the view of the upcoming COP 26.’
The report, developed through a substantial collaborative effort, offers a clear and valuable focus on what can be done and delivered the help solve one of the biggest challenges facing us today.
It has been released to coincide with the COP26 conference in Glasgow, which will bring the world’s leaders together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The full report is available here.