LWMECL: Environmental and Climate Law

Module code: LWMECL

Module provider: School of Law

Credits: 20

Level: 7

When you’ll be taught: Semester 2

Module convenor: Professor Benoit Mayer, email: b.p.mayer@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2026/7

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: No

Last updated: 16 September 2026

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module aims to provide students with a detailed knowledge and understanding of certain key areas of environmental and climate law. The main focus will be on national developments, but reference will also be made to developments in European Union law, international law, and foreign law when relevant. The first part of the module will explore the foundations of environmental law, including the attempts to define the environment, the main principles (e.g. the precautionary approach), the regulation of environmental pollution, and legal and policy initiatives aimed at protecting nature. The second part of the module will explore more thoroughly the law aimed at addressing climate change at the international and national level, including a comparative overview of national laws and policies and a critical engagement with the prospects for climate litigation. The third part of the module will consider tools applicable to environmental and climate law, including environmental impact assessment, tort law, criminal law, and human rights law.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. understand the main legal norms and policy tools aimed at advancing the protection of the environment and the mitigation of climate change,
2. think critically about whether and how the law generally, and specific norms and tools specifically, can advance the protection of the environment and the mitigation of climate change, including by formulating policy recommendations,
3. engage in reflective, analytical class discussion on these topics,
4. use advanced critical reading skills in relation to primary and secondary sources,
5. write a research-based essay.

Module content

The module will consist of 11 one-hour lectures and 9 two-hour seminars. In general, seminars will build on the contents of the lecture taught in the previous week. Lectures will be taught by several teachers, while seminars will be taught by the module convenor.

Lecture 1: environmental regulation at multiple scales (Professor Robert van der Noort)
Lecture 2: regulation (Chris Hilson)
Lecture 3: the protection of nature (David Bilchitz, online)
Lecture 4: international climate law (Benoit Mayer)
Lecture 5: climate laws and policies (Benoit Mayer)
Lecture 6: litigation on climate change adaptation (Chris Hilson)
Lecture 7: litigation on climate change mitigation (Benoit Mayer)
Lecture 8: climate justice and loss and damage (Vicky Kapogianni)
Lecture 9: environmental impact assessment (Benoit Mayer)
Lecture 10: human rights law (Benoit Mayer)
Lecture 11: Criminal law as a tool to protect the environment (Rosa Walling-Wefelmeyer)

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

The module will be taught over 11 weeks. Each week, students will attend a one-hour lecture and, most weeks, they will participate in a two-hour seminar. The lectures will aim at transferring foundational knowledge, both directly and indirectly by guiding students to explore additional resources after class. The seminars will aim at refining students’ understanding of the concepts and resources presented in the lecture and at developing their analytical and debating skills. Seminars will include discussions of questions that will have been prepared by the students in advance and exercises.

All seminars will be delivered in person. The lectures will generally be delivered in person but may be delivered through synchronous online teaching if needed. If so, students will be notified in advance.

Study hours

At least 40 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 50% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each calendar day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three calendar days;
• where the piece of work is submitted up to three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in you Individual Learning Plan), the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three calendar days of the deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

Where a piece of work is submitted late after a deadline which has been revised owing to an extension granted through the Assessment Adjustments policy and process (self-certified or otherwise), it will be subject to the maximum penalty (i.e., considered to be more than three calendar days late). This will also apply when such an extension is used in conjunction with a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: /cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

1. Every student will be invited to send two formative assessments to the module convenor before two different seminars. The first formative assessment will consist in a draft outline for a response to an essay question. The second formative assessment will consist in a 500-words answer to an essay question. Individual feedback will be sent by email reply, and collective feedback will be provided during the seminar.
2. Graduate students will be provided ‘feedforward’ recommendation on the preparation of their research paper.

Reassessment

Additional costs