The course aims at providing the students with a structured knowledge of selected aspects of international and EU environmental and energy law. Given the breadth of the subject matter, the emphasis will be placed on understanding the broad architecture of the subject and surveying its main areas. Finally, students will be expected to deliver in-class presentations on the topics discussed, as part of the learning process.

Knowledge and understanding: The course will familiarize students with what is the main tool an aspiring environmental/energy lawyer must have, namely a solid understanding of the entire architecture of the field. This understanding is necessary not only to frame and analyze specific problems but also to compare laws and policies across treaties and jurisdictions, as well as to design new ones which are better adapted to tackle a problem. Applying knowledge and understanding: The students will be able to: • frame the legal dimensions of environmental/energy problems from an international and EU law perspective (legal practice-relevant) • examine such problems both sectorial (e.g. in the light of the applicable waste regulations) and in an integrated manner (identifying cross-cutting dimensions which are seldom overlooked) (legal practice/policy-relevant) • understand which approaches are working better than others and why (policy-relevant) Making judgements: Students are required to exercise judgement on: • what are the most directly applicable rules for a given problem, • what other rules (even if apparently unconnected) are concerned, • what are the different possible legal framings of a problem, • what are the implications of these different framings • why are some approaches working better than others Communications Skills: This course will equip students with the ‘language’ used by international and EU lawyers to frame and analyze environmental/energy problems and debate about possible policy changes. The panel system will, in addition, encourage students to mobilize knowledge on short notice and in a concise and to-the-point manner akin to real-life practice. Learning skills: This course seeks to develop students’ ability to absorb significant amounts of unfamiliar material and distill the few core points. This ability is not only useful but indispensable in the broad field of environmental/energy studies, including environmental/energy law, but it is also increasingly important as a transferable skill, given the fact that today’s students are bombarded with daunting amounts of information through which they have to find their way.

The course covers selected aspects from the three main components of both international and EU environmental and energy law, namely: (I) Foundations; (II) Substantive Regulation; (III) Implementation. Particular attention is paid to current developments.

P.-M. Dupuy and J. E. Vinuales, International Environmental Law (Cambridge University Press, 2nd edn 2018) [hereafter referred to as D/V] (available in the online LUISS library). J. E. Viñuales, The International Law of Energy (Cambridge University Press, 2022) [hereafter referred to as Vinuales - Energy] (available in the online LUISS library).

Broad (structural) lectures, followed by more participative lectures discussing issues in more detail by reference to case-studies and problems. Students’ participation during lectures is strongly encouraged, and it will be organized and assessed through a system of presentations (with a handful students allocated to each panel) to familiarize students with the level of granularity of the science and policy discussions in this area.

The course will be assessed through two components. 1. Mandatory group presentations (20%), in which students will be assigned to groups and will work collaboratively on a presentation focusing on a specific topic and related case studies connected to the subject matter covered in the previous class. 2. An oral exam covering the course material (80%).

Assignment to be decided upon satisfactory results in the exam and good knowledge of the basic principles of international and environmental law.