In this blogpost we will examine human rights and their protection under international law. During class we will also look at the constitutional protection of fundamental rights, taking the EU and its “Charter of Fundamental Rights” as an example (obviously the EU is not a state; it is a mix…

In the previous class we saw that the UNFCCC is not the only international legal regime relevant for climate change; legal obligations of states to mitigate emissions might arise also from other international treaties of a “general” scope, such as the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS)…

In the previous class+blogpost, we discussed the existing international legal regime on climate change, UNFCCC. Beyond the UNFCCC, many other international legal regimes exist that are, or could be, of relevance in terms of climate change (in fact, we already encountered one: the international legal regime on the protection of…

Your reflection paper In your reflection paper, I ask you to think about the relationship between competition and innovation. You can take the paper in any direction you like, as long as it says something interesting about the relation between the two issues. Group work is possible (up to three students), but not…

Overview of the book’s main argument Anne Witt’s book “The More Economic Approach to Antitrust Law” deals with the “more economic approach” (MEA) in antitrust law, which the Commission proclaimed a decade ago. The book’s main argument is expressed eg the following passage: “The more economic approach has transformed the Commission’s competitive assessments to the point…

This blogpost analyzes the methodical dimension of Thomas Spijkerboer’s article “Wasted Lives. Borders and the Right to Life of People Crossing Them.” You will first find study questions, and then my best attempt of responding to these questions. The article is interesting from the perspective of our course because it…

During the previous classes we encountered a number of instances where actors involved courts and tribunals to pursue their objectives, and thereby brought the issue of climate change into the forum of litigation. For example, we encountered the following cases: Transcanada v US, Lone Pine v Canada, Mesa Energy v…

(updated 3 December 2020) In the previous weeks we often talked about institutional actors such as international organizations, governments, courts, administrative agencies and companies. However, we already encountered another key participant in the political and legal arena, namely social movements. Social movements are at the frontline of climate action, just…

This blogpost guides you through the Urgenda judgment of the Den Haag district court (2015). Introduction Relevance You can find the Urgenda decision here. Its importance is stated by the judgment itself: Overview At the beginning you can find an overview of the decision: