What we do: Advocacy
Through our own initiatives and through collaborations, we advocate for the climate perspective in commercial and investment law. We speak, write and publish widely with the aim of engaging commercial lawyers in the fight against climate change.
COMMERCIAL LAWYERS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
In May 2023, Climate Change Counsel released the report Commercial Lawyers and Climate Change (in Swedish with English executive summary). Based on a survey and interviews, the report explores the extent to which the climate ambitions of Swedish companies are reflected among the lawyers who represent and advise them.
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Download the report (in Swedish).
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Read the Executive Summary (in English).
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Video of the presentation and panel discussion at the report launch.
The report is part of a long-term collaboration between CCC and JP Infonet. The half-day course Climate transition for commercial lawyers and the database ClimateNet will launch in the second half of 2023.
STRENGTHENING ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE JUSTICE IN THE PACIFIC
As part of a project to strengthen judicial capacity towards sustainable economic development in Asia and the Pacific, Climate Change Counsel is working with the Asian Research Institute for Environmental Law to explore the feasibility of a regional body for environmental dispute settlement in the Pacific region. The aim is to achieve enhanced environmental and climate justice across the region. The project is a collaboration between the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Read IUCN report on this topic and the 2021 Oceania Environmental Law Conference Statement.
BOOK: INVESTMENT ARBITRATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Climate Change Counsel co-founders Anja Ipp and Annette Magnusson are putting together an edited volume titled Investment Arbitration and Climate Change, to be published by Kluwer Law International in 2023. Contributing authors include arbitration practitioners, academics and expert from civil-society.
EXPERT PANEL: PARIS AGREEMENT CONCILIATION ANNEX
The International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) has convened a Panel of Experts to develop and promote a proposed draft conciliation annex for the Paris Agreement and the UNFCCC. The Panel includes experts from private practice, judiciaries, governments, arbitral institutions, academia and international organizations.
The Panel is co-chaired by Climate Change Counsel co-founder Annette Magnusson together with Catherine Amirfar, partner with Debevoise & Plimpton and Immediate Past President of the American Society of International Law.
Find out more on the ICCA website.
THE ENERGY CHARTER TREATY, CLIMATE CHANGE AND CLEAN ENERGY TRANSITION
In 2021-22, Climate Change Counsel conducted a study of arbitral awards rendered under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT).
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The study was awarded the 2022 GAR Green Arbitration Award
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Download the final report (released 15 March 2022).
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Press release about the report
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Article: Regime Interaction in Investment Arbitration: Climate Law, International Investment Law and Arbitration
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Anja Ipp discusses ECT modernization in this roundtable summary.
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Anja Ipp talks about International Investment Law, Climate Change and Regulatory Chill at a May 2022 webinar
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Annette Magnusson discusses the study in the 2021 EFILA lecture.
MOBILIZING LAWYERS IN THE NET ZERO TRANSITION
Climate Change Counsel works with The Chancery Lane Project (TCLP) and the Net Zero Lawyers’ Alliance (NZLA) to mobilize commercial lawyers in the net zero transition. With a focus on legal communities in the Nordics, CCC works to support commercial lawyers in their roles as advisors and drivers of the current climate-centered economic transformation.
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Watch a CCC webinar on this topic.
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Read an interview with Anja Ipp in The Impact Lawyer
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CCC speaks regularly on these topics at events around the world.
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CCC works to encourage use of TCLP model clauses in the Nordics.
UNCITRAL NET ZERO LEGISLATIVE PROJECT
CCC works with Net Zero Lawyers Alliance (NZLA) on an initiative that explores how UNCITRAL can facilitate and accelerate global climate mitigation and adaptation by strengthening the model laws, rules and standards of international trade law.
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Read more about the project here.
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Read the Note (Part I and Part II) by the UNCITRAL Secretariat exploring the possibility of future work on climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience.
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Hear CCC’s Annette Magnusson and others speak about the UNCITRAL Net Zero Legislative Project.
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Read the report of the UNCITRAL Commission 55th session (update on the Net Zero project on pp. 37-39.
ARBITRATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Before Climate Change Counsel, the cofounders worked together at the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, where they acted as thought leaders on the relationship between arbitration and climate change.
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Video: CCC cofounder Annette Magnusson speaks about climate change and arbitration at the ICCA Congress in Sydney, April 2018.
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Editorial: Dispute resolution and climate change
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Event: Panel discussion on dispute resolution in support of climate change policy at COP23 in Bonn
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Book chapter: Climate Disputes and Sustainable Development in the Energy Sector: Bridging the Enforceability Gap
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Report: Green Technology Disputes in Stockholm (2019)
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Conference report: Bridging the Climate Change Policy Gap - The Role of International Law and Arbitration (2016)
INTERNATIONAL LAW FOR GREEN INVESTMENTS
In 2017/18, the founders of Climate Change Counsel designed and implemented Stockholm Treaty Lab, an innovation contest that crowdsourced international law for a better climate. Contestant teams from all over the world competed by submitting a model international treaty that would encourage investments in climate change mitigation and adaptation. The project was nominated for the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Award in 2017, and participated in the 2018 Paris Peace Forum and the 2018 NY Climate Action Week.
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The Treaty Lab website explains the campaign and presents the winning submissions.
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Video about the competition and the top teams (commissioned by the project team).