Objectives of the Course

Objective 1: To provide students with in-depth knowledge about sustainable development and climate change concepts in EU law.

Objective 2: To develop knowledge and understanding of the constitutional grounds of the EU legal order, and situate in this constitutional perspective the principle of sustainable development and climate protection in EU law.

Objective 3: To provide comprehensive analysis of selected areas of substantive EU law, bearing in mind that the conception of sustainable development and the necessity to combat climate change permeates most areas of the EU legal order, starting from environmental law, through the cohesion and structural funds policy, agricultural policy, food policy, energy policy, state aid and public procurement to financial law, taxonomy, budgetary policy and consumer protection.

Objective 4: To provide analytical tools through the prism of the climate change in relation to the instruments of legal protection before the EU and national courts based both on the recent trends in the case-law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the General Court of the EU as well as national constitutional and Supreme courts

Objective 5: To familiarise the students with the EU legal terminology in English, in particular the terminology of EU substantive and procedural law with elements of international law taking into account sustainable development and climate change.

Description of the Course

UNIT 1. Origins and evolution of EU Environmental, Climate Law and Sustainability. A constitutional perspective.

Lecturer: dr hab. A. Sikora-Kalėda

Duration: 4 h (lecture or distance learning course)

Core components:

1. History and legitimacy of the EU environmental and climate law
2. High level of environmental protection in EU law and Article 3 TEU
3. EU as a constitutional community founded on values – the meaning of Article 2 TEU
4. Sustainable development from its origins to the Lisbon treaty in a comparative perspective. Ethical, economic and societal dimensions of sustainable development
5. Inter and intra-generational dimension of sustainable development  
6. Principle of integration (Article 11 TFEU) and its relationship with sustainable development
7. The concepts of environmental democracy and environmental rule of law

UNIT 2. Fundamental Rights and Environmental Protection in the EU legal order and beyond. Towards Nature’s Rights?

Lecturer: dr hab. A. Sikora-Kalėda

Duration: 4 h (lecture or distance learning course)

Core components:

1. Environment as an object (or subject) of legal protection – should trees have standing?
2. Anthropocene: human rights and the environment. What about an intrinsic value of environment?
3. European Court of Human Rights – a concept of derived environmental rights and climate change cases
4. Environmental rights in the EU legal framework: Article 37 of the Charter of the Fundamental Rights its origins and meaning
5. Towards the right to clean air and clean water in EU law?
6. Nature’s rights in a global perspective and in the EU law doctrine
7. Climate change litigation as a tool of legal protection of individuals and nature – an outline. How to legally frame interests of future generations?

UNIT 3. Sustainable development and green transition in EU law

Lecturer: dr hab. A. Sikora-Kalėda

Duration: 4 h (lecture or distance learning course)

Core components:

1. Making the EU economy sustainable and green – climate change and us
2. Climate change as a threat – global response in international law. EU’s legal status under the international legal framework
3. Sustainability and its implementation in EU law and policies. EU “holistic approach” to Sustainable Development Goals
4. Setting a target: European Green Deal – legal status & scope. The EUGD and sustainability mainstreaming.
5. The EUGD implementation: impact of sustainability and climate change on the EU legal framework: Fit for 55 package
6. Financing the EUGD ambitions: European Green Deal Investment Plan (EGDIP) and solidarity instruments.
7. External dimension of the EUGD

UNIT 4. Climate change and sustainability in substantive EU law (per area)

Climate law cluster

Lecturer: dr M. Baran

Duration: 5 h (lecture or distance learning course)

Core components:

1. Climate international law and its impacts on the EU legal framework
2. Basics of EU climate and policy: origins and history
3. Key instruments to Achieve the 2030 Climate Targets​. Legal tools of decarbonization: from ETS to effort sharing through energy efficiency, LULUCF and targeting transport
4. New regulatory framework – EU Climate Law Regulation
5. ETS legal architecture and impact. The concept of climate neutrality: is 0 target equivalent to 0 emissions?
6. Climate and biodiversity in EU law – fighting species extinction through climate protection

Clean air cluster

Lecturer: dr M. Baran

Duration: 5 h (lecture or distance learning course)

Core components:

1. Clean air legislation and enforcement
2. Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Monitoring and Reporting
3. Ozone Layer Protection and Fluorinated gases
4. Carbon Capture and Storage
5. Transport (air, rail, road, maritime and inland waterways)
6. Fuels legislation

Financial cluster

Lecturer: dr hab. A. Sikora-Kalėda

Duration: 5 h

Core components:

1. EU budget, its main components and principles (MFF)
2. The model of the EU own resources. NGEU & RRF as sustainable and green recovery tools
3. Taxation as an instrument of transition towards a greener and more sustainable Union
4. Taxonomy and sustainable finance in EU law
5. Greening the EMU

Agriculture and Food Law cluster

Lecturer: dr M. Baran

Duration: 3 h (lecture or distance learning course)

Core components:

1. Forests and Agriculture in the EU legal order
2. Greening the EU Agriculture Policy – climate orientated reform or a pragmatic competence shift
3. Food law and consumer protection
4. Well-being of animals under EU law

Consumer protection and digital economy

Lecturer: dr hab. I. Kawka

Duration: 3 h (lecture or distance learning course)

Core components:

1. Towards sustainable consumption in EU law. Regulatory and non-regulatory tools
2. The concepts of durability, reparability, upgradeability and recyclability
3. E-government and e-administration in EU law
4. Digitalisation of EU economy – legal tools

Energy and State aid cluster

Lecturers: dr M. Baran & dr hab. A. Sikora-Kalėda

Duration: 5 h (lecture or distance learning course)

Core components:

1. Lisbon treaty and the energy legal basis.
2. Energy, national sovereignty, energy solidarity – recent case-law
3. Sustainability, climate change and energy – balancing environmental policy choices & security of energy supply
4. State aid and green, renewable energy
5. Latest GBER & Regional and environmental State aid guidelines
6. EU Green transition and sustainable (efficient) energy use
7. European Energy Autonomy instruments

Public procurement cluster

Lecturer: I. Kovalchuk

Duration: 2 h (lecture or distance learning course)

Core components:

1. Evolution of the EU legislation and case-law
2. Green Public Procurement
3. EMAS

UNIT 5. Judicial protection – environment, climate and individuals before the EU Courts

Lecturer: dr S. L. Kalėda

Duration: 5 h (lecture or distance learning course)

Core components:

1. The role of EU judicature in the EU legal order
2. Enhancing judicial protection of environment and individuals
3. Direct and indirect legal remedies before the EU Courts
4. The role of private enforcement in enhancing environmental protection
5. The role of public enforcement in in enhancing environmental protection
6. Access to justice in environmental matters (Aarhus Convention in EU law)
7. Recent developments in the case-law of the EU courts in relation to the climate change