Foundations of Environmental Law series – serie

This timely and incisive book combines an introduction to the core legal and policy issues presented by climate change with a deeper analysis of decisions that will define the path forward. Offering a guide to key terms, concepts, and legal principles in the field, this book will help readers develop a sophisticated perspective on issues central to climate change law and policy.Building a pathway to literacy in climate change policy, chapters provide an accessible overview of key energy regulations and laws governing energy projects, legal mechanisms to regulate GHG emissions, and the role of state and local governments in developing mitigation and adaptation policy, particularly in the building and transportation sectors. The authors highlight the relationship between human rights and climate change using the framework of human rights law, analyze the use of litigation to compel climate change mitigation and adaptation and suggest ways to achieve international cooperation.Providing a deep understanding of ongoing debates about the design and implementation of climate change law and policy, this book will be an essential resource for students and researchers of environmental and climate change law, governance, and regulation. It will also be useful for policymakers and practitioners in the field for its practical insights into future developments and solutions.

This book provides a comprehensive and compelling examination of the emergence of environmental rights in laws, constitutions and court rulings worldwide. Drawing on empirical research and data-driven analysis, James R. May engages the opportunities and challenges in translating the global recognition of environmental rights into functional and practical improvements in environmental outcomes.May explores both the hope that environmental rights provide for improving outcomes for environmental quality, climate change, and the human condition and how judicial reluctance, textual ambiguity, lack of standards and socio-political barriers can thwart implementation of the right to a healthy environment even when written into law at international, regional and national levels. May explains the growing significance of alternative legal channels for achieving the aims of environmental rights, including socioeconomic rights, such as the rights to life, dignity, health, nature, participation and sustainability, and subnational constitutions, to promote alternative legal frameworks for environmental protection when explicit environmental rights are absent, overlooked or unenforceable.Environmental Rights is essential reading for scholars and students of environmental, comparative and human rights law, seeking to understand the legal architecture and implementation challenges of international environmental rights. It also provides valuable frameworks for practitioners and policymakers in advocacy, the judiciary and interdisciplinary fields concerned with sustainability and justice.