Harro van Asselt

Huge news from the UK today: after UN climate talks in which there was a massive fight over language on fossil fuels, the UK government today announced that it will in fact be keeping many millions of barrels of oil & gas in the ground. Deeds rather than just words for a change! 🧵

Matthew Gingell of Oxygen House Group highlights the crucial role of contracts in addressing climate change for his Cambridge Seminar on Law & the Climate Crisis

🤡OIL DEMAND WILL KEEP RISING🤡

What are the IEA assumptions that make rising oil demand so improbable?

📆 🌎 Booking now! Contract Law & Climate Change, Matthew Gingell, GC of The Oxygen House Group, Founder of The Chancery Lane Project & member of the Law Society CCC. 14 Nov 2025, 4pm, Cambridge.
👉 climatehughes.org/events/contr...
@harrovanasselt.bsky.social @cambridgezero.bsky.social

📆 🌎 Booking now! Contract Law & Climate Change, Matthew Gingell, GC of The Oxygen House Group, Founder of The Chancery Lane Project & member of the Law Society CCC. 14 Nov 2025, 4pm, Cambridge.
👉 climatehughes.org/events/contr...
@harrovanasselt.bsky.social @cambridgezero.bsky.social

The #COP30 world leaders summit is about to start, and on this thread I'll be tracking how world leaders address energy transition (specifically fossil fuels) in their speeches. Let's go!

📆 🌎 Booking now! Corporate Law & Climate Change, with Prof Ernest Lim, NUS. 07 Nov 2025, 4:00pm - 6:00pm, David Attenborough Building: climatehughes.org/events/corpo...
@hugheshall.bsky.social @harrovanasselt.bsky.social @cambridgezero.bsky.social @lauterpachtcentre.bsky.social

Do not miss this week's Climate Law Lecture Friday, 07 Nov 2025, on Corporate Law and Climate Change, with Prof Ernest Lim from NUS @nus-cil.bsky.social, 4:00pm - 6:00pm DAB @landeconomy.bsky.social @lauterpachtcentre.bsky.social @hugheshall.bsky.social @climatehughes.bsky.social

👉 bit.ly/4qvoIbX

In a new Nature Climate Change comment, we call for reflection on the role and purpose of #climatelitigation in light of unfortunate trends of challenges to judicial independence, deregulation & anti-climate litigation

w/ @mer29-cam.bsky.social @highamian.bsky.social @ninahall.bsky.social

US accused of threatening EU diplomats during bid to kill green shipping rules Negotiators at shipping talks in London were told both they and their countries could be punished unless they voted with the U.S.

🚨🚨Things are just getting worse. 🧵
www.politico.eu/article/us-a...

Transformative transparency in the EU and UNFCCC? Assessing the perceived influence of reporting and review on climate policy in Finland

🔓 International transparency arrangements are often expected to benefit national-level policymaking. Yet, reporting and review are perceived to mainly support minor policy changes, find Pietarila, @harrovanasselt.bsky.social et al. @fiia.fi, with limited influence on policy instruments & goals ⬇️

Reorienting climate litigation in a time of backlash - Nature Climate Change Restrictions on civil society may drive climate activists to shift from protest to litigation. However, challenges to judicial independence, deregulation and anti-climate litigation mean that activist...

Reorienting #Climate litigation in a time of backlash, shrinking civic space & challenges to judicial independence

Here's our take in Nature w/ Mette Eilstrup-Sangiovanni, Lisa Vanhala, Joana Setzer, Ian Higham & @harrovanasselt.bsky.social Great collaboration!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

📆 🌎 Booking now! Corporate Law & Climate Change, with Prof Ernest Lim, NUS. 07 Nov 2025, 4:00pm - 6:00pm, David Attenborough Building: climatehughes.org/events/corpo...
@hugheshall.bsky.social @harrovanasselt.bsky.social @cambridgezero.bsky.social @lauterpachtcentre.bsky.social

Framing the discussion on #reparations and #climatechange, Harj Narulla asks the audience at the Law & Climate Crisis Seminar what the biggest compensation award by the ICJ has been.

Do you know the answer?

The @echr.coe.int today affirmed a set of important principles re the obligations of states under the European Convention on Human Rights with respect to the assessment of climate impacts from proposed fossil fuel extraction projects. hudoc.echr.coe.int#{%22itemid%2...

Lord Robert Carnwath kicks off this year’s Law & the Climate Crisis Seminar Series discussing the roles and attitudes of judges in climate litigation

@hugheshall.bsky.social @climatehughes.bsky.social
@cambridgezero.bsky.social
@lauterpachtcentre.bsky.social

ICJ Advisory Opinion: Fossil Fuel Feuds in The Hague By Harro van Asselt, Hatton Professor of Climate Law, Department of Land Economy and Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge; and Tejas Rao, PhD Researcher, Department of Land Economy, University of Camb...

In a new blog, @tejasrao.bsky.social & I reflect on some of the key findings from the #ICJAO on #fossilfuels

ICJ Advisory Opinion: Fossil Fuel Feuds in The Hague sdg.iisd.org/commentary/g...

Job Vacancy: Research Associate in Climate Governance (Fixed Term) Application deadline: 27th October 2025.

🌏✨We are looking for a Research Associate in Climate Governance, who will work with @harrovanasselt.bsky.social on the EU-funded ACCLIMATE project. The application deadline is 27th October 2025. 🔗See here on our website for more details, including how to apply: www.landecon.cam.ac.uk/vacancy/job-...

Applications are now open for a postdoctoral Research Associate in Climate Governance (Fixed Term, 18 months) at the Department of Land Economy to work with me on the @acclimateproject.bsky.social project.

Deadline = 27 October

www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

Xi Jinping announced China's new climate targets personally, a positive gesture, but the targets brought little clarity on China’s future emission pathway. Targeting a 7-10% emission reduction by 2035 from an undefined "peak level" undersells China's current clean energy boom.

2025 Home - Production Gap

The announcement also gains further currency when considering the other major news today, with the 2025 Production Gap Report finding that fossil fuel-producing countries are still continuing to expand production, thereby undermining the achievement of the 1.5C goal

productiongap.org

Colombia Announces 1st International Phase-Out Conference — The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative Colombia has announced its plan to host the First International Conference for the Phase-Out of Fossil Fuels in April 2026. The landmark conference will provide a global platform for countries to coop...

Today's announcement by Colombia to host an international conference on phasing out fossil fuels could not be more timely. Following the #ICJAO, it's clear that international cooperation to transition away from fossil fuels is necessary.

fossilfueltreaty.org/phase-out-co...

NEW: IEA reiterates ‘no new oil and gas needed’ if global warming is limited to 1.5C (but this time, it only says so quietly)

🧵quick thread

www.carbonbrief.org/...
1/6

Radical Reform of the International Investment Treaty Regime: A Role for Climate Clubs? There is growing concern that provisions in international investment treaties are being used to delay the critically needed transition away from fossil fuels. Although various procedural and substant...

New paper with Kyla Tienhaara & Harro van Asselt in Global Policy exploring whether climate clubs might be able to resist ISDS measures being used to slow the energy transition onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @suspol.bsky.social @sussexsrp.bsky.social

Land Economy researchers comment on the ICJ's Advisory Opinion on climate change

⚖️🏦🌏Our researchers have been offering expert commentary on the International Court of Justice's recent Advisory Opinion on the responsibility of states to prevent harm to the climate system. 🔗You can read a round-up on our website here: www.landecon.cam.ac.uk/news/land-ec...

Registration for the inaugural conference of the European Association of Climate Law on 22-23 September in Berlin is now open!

We have an exciting conference programme, and we're delighted to have @christinavoigt.bsky.social give the keynote talk.

usercontent.one/wp/www.ikem....

The Private Life of the ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change

In a new blog post at @voelkerrechtsblog.org, I discuss the implications of the ICJ's Advisory Opinion for corporate climate accountability.

Though the Court doesn't say much explicitly, the key is to read between the lines.

voelkerrechtsblog.org/the-private-...

It has been a decade since the Paris Agreement.

And with COP30 in Brazil on the horizon, there have been calls for major reform at the UN climate talks.

We asked 16 experts - including former negotiators and COP veterans - what they think should change at these events.

➡️ buff.ly/JWL8AQN

‘Significant legal breakthrough’ as NSW court blocks state’s largest coal expansion over emissions Decision is a significant blow for MACH Energy’s Mount Pleasant coalmine expansion in Muswellbrook in the upper Hunter

A win for climate justice! 🎉

A New South Wales court has blocked the expansion of a coal mine because of its global climate harm.

This is the first time an Australian court has rejected a fossil fuel project on emissions burned overseas.
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Update: A whole wealth of separate opinions has now been uploaded.