The Polish Review of International and European Law invites submissions for an issue on the Impact of climate change on international law in the light of decisions of international bodies (vol. 15, issue 1)
In recent years, international climate change law has been affected by a series of unprecedented decisions by international bodies, especially international courts. Back in 2017, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued an advisory opinion on the obligations of states in the field of human rights protection. In 2022, the UN Human Rights Committee also issued views on this matter. In 2025, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights issued General comment No. 27 (2025) on economic, social and cultural rights and the environmental dimension of sustainable development.
However, the case law from 2024 and 2025 is particularly significant. This concerns the European Court of Human Rights’ KlimaSeniorinnen judgment in April 2024, followed by three advisory opinions in May 2024 from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea on 'Climate Change and International Law’, in May 2025 from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on 'Climate Emergency and Human Rights’, in July 2025 from the International Court of Justice on the 'Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change’, and recently in October 2025 from The European Court of Human Rights judgment on Greenpeace Nordic and Others.
The case law cited encourages both a new perspective on international climate change law and reflection on its impact on international law. This is because questions arise concerning the scope and nature of states’ obligations in the field of climate change, the role of treaties, but also customary law. Problems arise in determining the significance for this law of such substantive and formal concepts as jus cogens, erga omnes obligations, global public goods, due diligence, lex specialis, responsibility, and the legal consequences of unlawful acts in the sphere of climate change. Questions also arise as to the meaning of various principles, such as sustainable development or justice. At the same time, one may wonder to what extent the findings of the courts in these cases influence the understanding of these concepts in general part of international law (lex generalis) and in specific branches of international law.
Finally, just as the importance of human rights protection is considered as a field that horizontally permeates all branches of international law, so too can one now consider the permeation of climate change law (and the limits of that permeation) into other branches of international law, in particular the law of the sea, human rights law, the law of armed conflict, international economic law and the legal effects of the process.
We invite you to submit an abstract of the manuscript (max. 400 words) to k.maslo@uksw.edu.pl no later than 25 November 2025. Please include the following information: author name(s) and affiliation(s). The abstract should also clearly indicate the timeliness of the topic and its suitability for this call for papers.
Deadlines
| Deadline for submission of abstracts | 25 November 2025 |
| Deadline for notification of acceptance of proposed contribution | 2 December 2025 |
| Submission of full paper | 10 February 2026 |
| Publication | 30 June 2026 |
03 listopada 2025
