Can law save the world? Or is the current legal system rather incapable of responding to the current problems? Is the climate crisis also a crisis of law, or is it an opportunity to rethink outdated concepts? Are states or corporations to blame for climate change? And what role can I, the individual, play?

In seeking answers to these questions, we will explore the connections between the global and the local, theory and practice, and law and activism. The course will present in individual blocks what problems climate change poses for society and for law, and what opportunities for addressing it the law offers. The content of the individual blocks will include, for example:

1. Climate change for d̶u̶m̶m̶i̶e̶s̶ lawyers. The nature of the climate crisis and why is it a challenge for law?
2. Paris Agreement, Green Deal, COPs et al. – do international solutions work for an international problem?
3. An activist legal toolkit: How to write a petition, make a request for information or call a demonstration and why are our rights under attack
4. Responsibility for climate change as a moral and legal issue – questions of inter-generational, inter-national and corporate justice
5. The limits of law and its alternatives: Should we grant rights to animals and nature? Should emissions be a criminal offense? Is a coal mine blockade legal and legitimate?
6. Advocacy work: How to convince politicians to adopt a climate law?
7. Human rights and climate lawsuits in Europe and beyond – why did Portugues children fail and Swiss grandpas win?
8. A moot court inspired by famous climate disputes

The aim of the course is to present law as a living and dynamic tool to change the world for the better. The theme of the course is interdisciplinary with overlap to other social sciences as well as natural sciences. The course assumes no specific prior knowledge, only an interest in societal problems and their solutions.