Colloquium: Prof. Dr. Josephine van Zeben
Thursday, Feb 24, 2022, at 12.30 - 13.30
RZ F 21 or Online, Zoom (speaker will present online) | Sign up here
The effect of climate litigation on environmental policy
Climate litigation has become a permanent fixture in the climate law and policy landscape. Across jurisdictions, climate litigation takes different shapes, with actions based on administrative, civil, or criminal law. In this brief presentation, I will highlight the reasoning as well as the legal and policy consequences of the recent case of Milieudefensie et al vs. Royal Dutch Shell. I will contextualize this case within the broader jurisprudence that seeks to force governmental action on climate change through reliance on tort law and human rights. I will reflect on the ways in which these cases shape the climate policy landscape and whether this is a desirable role for the courts to play in our climate crisis.
About Prof. Dr. Josephine van Zeben
Josephine van Zeben is Professor and Chair of the LAW group at Wageningen University (WUR, the Netherlands). She has also been a lecturer at the ETH Zürich teaching Environmental Regulation: Law and Policy since 2012. Before joining WUR, van Zeben was Fellow in Public and EU Law (associate professor equivalent) at Worcester College, University of Oxford (2014-2019). She holds a PhD in Law and Economics (cum laude) from the University of Amsterdam, and LLM degrees from Harvard University and the University of Amsterdam (European Private Law), an LLB in Scots Law from the University of Edinburgh and a BA in Social Sciences from University College Utrecht, Utrecht University.
The presentation of the talk is available for protected page download.