Tools for Research on Climate Law, Governance, and Litigation

Research on climate law and governance plays a critical role in understanding what governments are committing to, how those commitments are translated into domestic laws and policies, what gaps remain, and how governments (amongst other actors) are being corralled into taking more ambitious action when policymaking fails. In this session, Joana Setzer and Emily Bradeen will introduce key tools that can support empirical and doctrinal research on climate change law, governance, and litigation. Drawing on examples from their own work, they will demonstrate how these tools can be used to analyse climate commitments, accountability mechanisms, and emerging legal trends. 

The first half of the session will focus on tools for analysing climate laws and policies at the national level. The second half of the session will turn to the sphere of climate litigation as a core component of the climate law and governance ecosystem. The session will conclude with a Q&A and discussion, inviting students to reflect on how these tools can be applied to their own research projects in climate law, governance, and litigation, and to consider the methodological opportunities and limitations of large-scale legal datasets.

Speakers:

Joana Setzer and Emily Bradeen (Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, LSE)

Chair:

Marie Petersmann (LSE Law School)