Climate Change Law and Policy

Climate change is the single most important challenge that confronts all of us in this century. The findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report Working Group I Report released in Aug 2021 has been described as a “code red for humanity”. The report flags the widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere. Further, the scale of the changes across the climate systems are unprecedented over many centuries to many thousands of years, with human induced climate change affecting many weather and climate extremes across the world. Some of the changes already set in motion such as continued sea level rise, are also reported to be irreversible over hundreds to thousands of years. Strong and sustained reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases would limit climate change although it could take 20-30 years for global temperatures to stabilize, according to the IPCC Working Group I report, Climate Change 2021: the Physical Science Basis. Following from the Glasgow Climate Pact adopted in Nov 2022, how the international community, particularly in Southeast Asia can and should respond to these challenges in terms of law and policy is of pressing concern.

With this in mind, the climate change law and policy team focusses on legal and policy-oriented research activities in the area of climate change governance at both the international level and the ASEAN level. We aim to foster and generate critical analysis on key international climate change governance issues as well as the inter-linkages between climate change law and other disciplines and considerations such as international environmental governance, trade and investment, international security, sustainable finance and sustainable corporate governance; and to disseminate that knowledge to decision makers.

The inhouse “In Conversation” series explores a range of issues at the front and centre of the climate debate as well as trends that impact on the direction of the global efforts to combat climate change.

If you are interested to learn more about CIL’s work on climate change law and policy or are interested in collaborating with us, please contact Danielle Yeow at d.yeow@nus.edu.sg