Postgraduate Course: The Law of Carbon Management: Regulating Carbon Dioxide Removals and CCS (LAWS11542)
Course Outline
| School | School of Law |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Managing carbon dioxide, whether through removals or sequestration, is becoming a major industrial activity in advanced economies. This course explores the emerging applicable law, regulation, institutions, and values. |
| Course description |
The course addresses an increasingly important issue within climate law, namely the regulation of carbon dioxide removals (CDR) and carbon capture and storage (CCS). Both operate, and are studied in this course, across legal levels (from public international law to domestic), legal disciplines (public and private law), and non-legal disciplines (economics, sociology, and physical sciences). It examines the range of CDR approaches, and CCS technology chains, as they relate to their emerging regulation, governance, and normativity. Students will be expected to evaluate their main strengths and weaknesses in comparative context; and consider how recent developments such as the EU¿s CRCF processes or the provisional application of the London Protocol advance (or otherwise) the field.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 25 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The course will be assessed by means of:«br /»
1. Assessed group presentation on assigned topics relating to specific seminars (20%)«br /»
2. Essay of no more than 4000 words in length for 80% of the grade. Topic assigned by Course Organiser.«br /»
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| Feedback |
A formative assessment (writing a 750 word policy brief, or casenote, or analysis of a published article) will be released in week 1 for hand-in by end of week 3. Written feedback will be given within one week.
Students submitting summative written work will receive detailed feedback on their submitted work via Learn, including overall assessment as well as detailed comments on their written text.
Students participating in the summative group presentations will receive oral feedback after each session.
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Critically discuss the emergence and development of key sources of climate law.
- Understand and evaluate the development of the regulation of CDR and CCS at multiple legal levels, and across different bodies of law.
- Identify key gaps and weaknesses of the processes of CDR/CCS regulation, and critically discuss options for reform.
- Demonstrate understanding of CDR/CCS technologies as they pertain to legal issues such as environmental safeguarding, civil liability, human rights protection, and administrative law.
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Reading List
¿ Smith S and others, ¿The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal - 2nd Edition¿ (Oxford, 2024)
¿ Bednar J and others, ¿Beyond Emissions Trading to a Negative Carbon Economy: A Proposed Carbon Removal Obligation and Its Implementation¿ (2023) Climate Policy 1
¿ Ghaleigh NS and Macinante J, ¿Déjà vu All Over Again: Carbon Dioxide Removals (CDR) and Legal Liability¿ [2023] Journal of Environmental Law
¿ Markusson N and others, ¿A Socio-Technical Framework for Assessing the Viability of Carbon Capture and Storage Technology¿ (2012) 79 Technological Forecasting & Social Change 903
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Completion of the course will develop a number of key GraduateAttributes including: curiosity for learning that makes a positive difference; courage to expand and fulfil individual potential; passion to engage locally and globally; critical and reflective thinking; and skilled communication.
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| Keywords | Climate law,carbon dioxide removals,carbon capture and storage,law and regulation |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr Navraj Ghaleigh
Tel: (0131 6)50 2069
Email: N.Ghaleigh@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Susanna Wickes
Tel:
Email: Susanna.Wickes@ed.ac.uk |
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