Global Environment and Climate Change Law – (LL.M.)

There are currently over 500 international treaties and other agreements related to the environment, and an average 300 days per year are spent in intergovernmental negotiations to further develop and enhance implementation of environmental law. Key international legal instruments are currently being negotiated, such as a post-2012 international regime on climate change, an international instrument on access and benefit-sharing related to genetic resources, and a legal framework on liability related to biosecurity, to name but a few. These ongoing developments at the international level are paralleled by continuous efforts in the development and implementation of environmental law at the European, regional and national level.
This leads to the creation of complex interactions and cross-fertilisation between different levels of environmental governance, between different specialised areas of environmental law, as well as between environmental law and other areas of law (trade, development, investment, agriculture, human rights). Environmental law is thus a dynamic, fast-developing and increasingly specialised area of law that requires not only specialist legal knowledge and skills, but also understanding of underpinning political, economic and scientific issues.The LLM Programme in Global Environment and Climate Change Law is designed to equip students with an advanced, interdisciplinary knowledge of the legal issues and techniques related to environmental protection and the management of natural resources, with special emphasis on climate change.
The programme aims to enable students to analyse and evaluate the historic and ongoing development of international, European and national law for environmental protection, the inter-relations between these different levels of law-making, as well as the interactions between environmental law and other areas of law. The programme offers the possibility of exploring different, inter-linked areas of environmental law with leading experts, alongside students from all around the world, at one of the UK's, and indeed Europe´s, leading universities. Its flexible and inter-disciplinary structure enables each student to tailor his/her curriculum as best suits individual interests and future career plans drawing from a choice of specialised courses at the School of Law, as well as environment-related courses at the School of Social and Political Science, the Business School and the Geosciences School of the University of Edinburgh.

There are currently over 500 international treaties and other agreements related to the environment, and an average 300 days per year are spent in intergovernmental negotiations to further develop and enhance implementation of environmental law. Key international legal instruments are currently being negotiated, such as a post-2012 international regime on climate change, an international instrument on access and benefit-sharing related to genetic resources, and a legal framework on liability related to biosecurity, to name but a few. These ongoing developments at the international level are paralleled by continuous efforts in the development and implementation of environmental law at the European, regional and national level.
This leads to the creation of complex interactions and cross-fertilisation between different levels of environmental governance, between different specialised areas of environmental law, as well as between environmental law and other areas of law (trade, development, investment, agriculture, human rights). Environmental law is thus a dynamic, fast-developing and increasingly specialised area of law that requires not only specialist legal knowledge and skills, but also understanding of underpinning political, economic and scientific issues.The LLM Programme in Global Environment and Climate Change Law is designed to equip students with an advanced, interdisciplinary knowledge of the legal issues and techniques related to environmental protection and the management of natural resources, with special emphasis on climate change.
The programme aims to enable students to analyse and evaluate the historic and ongoing development of international, European and national law for environmental protection, the inter-relations between these different levels of law-making, as well as the interactions between environmental law and other areas of law. The programme offers the possibility of exploring different, inter-linked areas of environmental law with leading experts, alongside students from all around the world, at one of the UK's, and indeed Europe´s, leading universities. Its flexible and inter-disciplinary structure enables each student to tailor his/her curriculum as best suits individual interests and future career plans drawing from a choice of specialised courses at the School of Law, as well as environment-related courses at the School of Social and Political Science, the Business School and the Geosciences School of the University of Edinburgh.