Legal expertise in climate change at Chinese University Hong Kong

Climate change is likely to shape the world for the remainder of the 21st century, and perhaps beyond. The apocalyptic images from Australia in recent months, detailing the devastation wrought by the worst bush fire season on record, which have seen more than 30 people killed and more than 10 million hectares of land across Australia burned, are a stark reminder of the increasing prevalence of extreme weather phenomena.

With climate change and its origins high on many governments’ agenda and increasingly complex regulation required to effectively curtail pollution without damaging economies, energy and environmental law is of great national and international importance.

Chinese University Hong Kong (CUHK) is at the forefront of educating the next generation of specialist lawyers who will shape this field.

“The increasingly pressing global as well as regional and local environmental challenges highlight the urgent need to integrate environmental protection into business operation. Lawyers have an essential role to play in this process,” says Professor Zhang Hao, deputy programme director of the Master of Laws (LLM) in Energy and Environmental Law at CUHK. “By providing expert training in energy, environmental and infrastructure law, the CUHK LLM in Energy and Environmental Law contributes to addressing these challenges through education. In the context of the green economic transition, experts are needed to facilitate the reorganisation of business towards sustainability.”

The core of the postgraduate course covers a wide range of legal issues relating to the energy industry and infrastructure more generally. But beyond a traditional focus on the hydrocarbon industry, which encompasses matters such as oil and gas and electricity production, the programme also addresses legal questions arising from countries looking to develop green industries and cleaner economies. To that end, the course provides a specific focus on environmental protection that includes examining climate change, waste management, cross-border water management and biodiversity.

A thoroughly rigorous course, the LLM does not shy away from examining more niche areas of study either. The programme also offers students an in-depth understanding of the legal aspects governing the key challenges of energy security and environmental protection. At this year’s Economic Forum in Davos, United States President Donald Trump raised the issue of energy security, underscoring just how important the matter is.

“With an abundance of American natural gas now available, our European allies no longer have to be vulnerable to unfriendly energy suppliers … We urge our friends in Europe to use America’s vast supply and achieve true energy security,” Trump told the gathering.