Lunch Seminar Series: Remedies in International Environmental and Climate Disputes

Coffee for lunch seminar

The Centre for International Law and Governance (CILG), Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen is hosting a lunch seminar on the 11th of March 2022. At the seminar, Marie Curie Fellow Justine Bendel (Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen) will present her research on the question of remedies in international environmental and climate disputes.

Remedies are an important part of the judicial process. However, the extent of the remedial powers of international courts and tribunals has regularly been questioned, and international courts and tribunals themselves have not always been consistent in awarding remedies. Yet, remedies are central for the resolution of international environmental and climate disputes. Indeed, international environmental and climate disputes challenge the very purpose of judicial remedies: for whom or what should they be awarded? In particular, the interpretation of ‘environmental harm’ is pivotal in the award of remedies, as it often connects with the substantive obligations breached.

This presentation, as a part of a broader study on the role of international courts in environmental disputes, asks how international courts and tribunals can use their remedial powers in an environmental context and what their rationale is when awarding certain remedies. More specifically, in order to understand the roles of international courts in the implementation of remedies in environmental disputes, the presentation addresses the following questions: what is the relationship between state responsibility and environmental harm and what impacts does it have on international courts’ ability to award remedies? How are remedial powers used by international courts and what are the underpinning reasons for using them in specific ways? And what are the shortcomings and opportunities of the current state of remedial powers of international courts for environmental disputes?

For Registration, please click here.

Time: 11th March 2022, 12.00 – 13.00  

Venue:  Room 7A.0.16 (Pejsestuen) and online via zoom (link provided upon registration) at the Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen.