Law and Sustainability

Achieving sustainability is a key goal of modern societies and will remain a priority challenge for future generations. Students will learn how sustainability challenges are dealt with in the legal order at the international, European Union, and national levels. The summer school will address how the law can buttress sustainability, but also how it can create obstacles to the realisation of sustainability objectives. This complex relationship is the subject of the Summer School on Law and Sustainability. Achieving sustainability is a key goal of modern societies and will remain a priority challenge for future generations. Only through sustainability will humanity be able to continue developing socially and economically, while protecting our shared environment. The concept of sustainability calls for a reframing of human activities within the limits of the Earth System. This summer school focuses on the challenges brought about by achieving sustainability through law. Students will learn how issues of sustainability are dealt with at the levels of international law, EU law and national law. The summer school will address how the law can buttress sustainability, but also how it can create obstacles to the realisation of sustainability objectives. Topics covered in this summer course may include: an introduction to environmental and climate change law; the legal nature and content of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); the human rights dimension of sustainability; sustainable use of natural resources, such as freshwater and the atmosphere; and the economic dimensions and opportunities of sustainability. This course will be taught entirely online via MS Teams

Course leader

Prof. dr. Seline Trevisanut