Mobilising political, legal and governance systems
How we regulate society, finance and economics, domestically and transnationally, is central to achieving sustainability objectives
Theme leads: Professor Veerle Heyvaert, Dr Joana Setzer, Professor Robert Falkner
National and international regulation must nudge, incentivise, and require private and public actors to move towards sustainability goals in ways that are economically sound, socially just and politically realistic and durable.
This requires that we answer four inter-related questions: (1) under what conditions can regulation simultaneously drive change and maintain broad public support; (2) what are the roots of the green backlash and how can we respond; (3) what is the contribution of litigation as a tool of sustainability governance; and (4) what novel forms of international cooperation can reinforce global sustainability governance in an era of geopolitical rupture.
Activities within the mobilising political, legal and governance systems theme
The Sustainability Regulation Observatory
The Sustainability Regulation Observatory (SRO) draws upon expertise across the LSE Law School, the Grantham Research Institute, the Department of International Relations and other departments and is dedicated to understanding how sustainability regulation works, where it falls short, and how it can be improved.
The Observatory, directed by Dr Ashfaq Khalfan, aims to influence how sustainability regulation is designed, reformed and implemented across jurisdictions and globally. It analyses experiences of implementation of sustainability regulation worldwide as well as the domestic and international political dynamics that shape sustainability governance. It maintains a cross-LSE database of expertise, publishes policy briefs and working papers, convenes policymakers, business, civil society, and regulators to translate findings into impact, and engages students through research assistantships and applied projects.
Current projects examine some of the most contested regulatory questions: what can corporate sustainability due diligence obligations and profit-based taxation of oil and gas companies achieve, compared to other regulatory instruments used to shift corporate behaviour. It is also convening LSE and external experts to analyse the political, economic, cultural and geopolitical dimensions of the green backlash and how to respond.
The Sustainability Law and Policy Clinic
The Sustainability Law and Policy Clinic (SLPC) offers students from across LSE an opportunity to engage in real-world legal and policy work on pressing ecological issues, working in collaborative teams under the supervision of Dr Marie Petersmann.
Projects range from providing legal guidance to affected communities in collaboration with major law firms, to drafting policy reports for environmental NGOs, submitting memos to UN Special Rapporteurs, and preparing amicus briefs in environmental and climate litigation. One current example is the SLPC’s collaboration with ClientEarth, which supports students in a project examining whether and how climate attribution science and litigation can be used to hold banks legally accountable for their financed emissions.
Clinical legal education is particularly vital in sustainability law and policy, where the stakes are existential and law is still catching up with the crisis. The SLPC trains students to become 'sustainability-conscious lawyers', not by telling them what the law is, but by asking them to help shape what it could become.
Priority areas
SRO and SLPC initiatives focus on three priority areas:
- Protection of nature and biodiversity
- Sustainable finance and business
- Energy and climate change
These areas are aligned with the other GSoS thematic priorities, most prominently the Protecting and Enhancing Nature and Biodiversity theme and the Creating Sustainable Finance and Business themes. Moreover, the energy and climate change work builds on the GRI's Climate Change Laws of the World and the LSE's extensive body of climate law and governance research.
Together, the SRO and SLPC form an integrated hub for research, teaching, and real-world impact at the intersection of law, governance, and sustainability.
Through these activities - and more - this theme contributes to the overarching mission and aspirations of GSoS. We provide evidence and insights that policymakers, practitioners and civil society can use to implement sustainability in practice.
Veerle Heyvaert is Professor of Law and Associate Dean of LSE Law School. Joana Setzer is Associate Professorial Research Fellow at the Grantham Research Institute at LSE. Robert Falkner is is Professor of International Relations and the Academic Dean of the TRIUM Global Executive MBA.