Event
Just Transitions and International Law conference
Thursday 7 September 2023 - Friday 8 September 2023
Analysing challenges raised by just transitions to a low-carbon economy in, and for, international law.
University of Dundee
Old Hawkhill
Dundee
DD1 5EN
Downloads
Climate change threatens humanity and supporting ecosystems.
International and regional legal and policy frameworks, governments, development actors and the private sector are striving to deliver a global green energy transition.
Several international instruments affirm that this transition must be ‘just’ and align with wider sustainable development objectives and human rights norms.
The 2015 Paris Agreement, for example, acknowledges ‘the imperatives of a just transitions of the workforce and the creation of decent work and quality jobs in accordance with nationally defined development priorities’, while the UN 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals combine green energy transition and other environmental objectives with wide-ranging social and economic targets.
Self-evidently, measures to secure a systemic shift toward a lower carbon economy affects all countries, regions, industries, and communities.
The idea of a just transitions evokes policies that are designed and implemented in line with international principles, such as equity, participation, transparency and inclusion, and international human rights.
But the law, policy and scholarship on ‘just transitions’ is nascent and fragmented.
There are sizeable knowledge gaps over the underlying conceptual architecture, economic, institutional, and social implications of a just transitions, at international, regional and national levels.
The conference will analyse challenges raised by just transitions to a low-carbon economy in, and for, international law. These challenges will be considered in five panels, focusing on:
- Human Rights and Just Transitions
- Just Transitions and Business
- Just Transitions and International Economic and Investment Law
- Global Perspectives on Just Transitions
- Just Transitions Litigation
The conference includes two keynote speeches delivered by Judge Tim Eicke, the European Court of Human Rights, and Professor Freya Baetens, Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, University of Oxford.
For questions about the conference, please write to jthub@dundee.ac.uk
The conference will be hosted in Dundee, Scotland, but participants and viewers will also be able to follow the conference online. See our travel page on getting to Dundee.
Conference Organising Committee:
Keynote speakers
Judge Tim Eicke
Judge Tim Eicke KC has been the judge elected in respect of the UK at the European Court of Human Rights since 2016. After studying the English Law LLB at Dundee University, he practised as a barrister at Essex Court Chambers and was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 2011. As a barrister, Judge Eicke regularly presented cases before the UK Supreme Court, the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights.
Freya Baetens
Freya Baetens is Professor of Public International Law at the Faculty of Law, Head of Programmes at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights and Fellow at Mansfield College. As a Member of the Brussels Bar, she regularly acts as counsel or expert in international and European disputes before international tribunals and courts such as the European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the World Trade Organisation and the European Court of Justice.
Read the accommodation and information guide for your journey to Dundee