Environmental Law and Climate Change: IALS Library Guides

Guide last updated by Balqees Khan, September 2025.

This guide aims to give a brief introduction to the Library's holdings on Environmental Law and Climate Change. Please consult Library Search for complete information on current titles and locations. If you require further assistance please contact us.

Monday-Friday 9:30-17:00
Tel (0)20 7862 5790
Email ials@sas.ac.uk

This Subject Guide only lists a selection of Library resources on Environmental Law and Climate Change. To find additional resources you will need to search Library Search, which covers the complete holdings of the Library. It is possible to search for books, journals and series of law reports by author, title or keyword.

IALS Library is mainly open access and readers are able to browse the shelves in the main collection. There are two main exceptions to this:

• Older items (marked RES or Depository on the catalogue record) are kept in the closed basement.
• Key texts for LLM students are often kept in the Short Loan collection.

Please request these at the Library Enquiry Desk.

For more information on understanding the catalogue record and further guidance on the location of materials please refer to our guide Classmarks and the Location of Resources in the Library.

The Library classifies textbooks either by jurisdiction (GO13, GA2 etc.) or according to subject area, examples of which include Comparative Law (SB), Public International Law (SG) and Private International Law/ Conflict of Laws (SH).

All classmark sections have a FOL section for oversize volumes, which is located on the same floor of the Library.

When you are searching Library Search for books, please note that only the current edition is held on the open shelves or in the Short Loan collection. IALS has a rich collection of previous editions held in the closed basement and these will display a Depository number on the catalogue. Please request previous editions from the Issue & Enquiry Desk.

European Union material is shelved at GO1.A1.C.7 or GO1.A8.C.7.

International material is shelved at SG75.

The following list represents a selection of textbooks on environmental law. Please follow the links to Library Search for further information and location. Titles are available in both print and electronic formats, unless indicated otherwise on the list below.

Albertyn, C., et al (eds).  Feminist frontiers in climate justice: gender equality, climate change and rights.  1st ed. 2023 Elgar (open access)

Abualrob, W.  Protection of the environment under international law during occupation: international humanitarian, human rights and environmental law.  1st ed. 2025 Routledge

Attapattu, S., et al (eds).  Cambridge handbook of environmental justice and sustainable development.  1st ed. 2021 CUP (e-book)

Bell, S., et al.  Environmental law.  10th ed. 2024 OUP

Birnie, P., & Boyle, A.  Birnie Boyle & Redgwell's International law and the environment.  4th ed. 2021 OUP

Bodansky, D., et al.  International climate change law.  1st ed. 2017 OUP (e-book)

Cullet, P., et al (eds).  Research handbook on law, environment and the global south.  1st ed. 2019 Elgar

Elgar encyclopedia of environmental law.  (ed. Faure, M.) 2016- Elgar (e-book)

Fisher, E., et al.  Environmental law: text, cases & materials.  2nd ed. 2019 OUP

Freestone, D., & Streck, C.  Legal aspects of carbon trading: Kyoto, Copenhagen and beyond.  1st ed. 2009 OUP (e-book)

Jans, J.  European environmental law: After Lisbon.  4th ed. 2012 Europa Law Publishing

Kiss, A., & Shelton, D.  International environmental law.  3rd ed. 2004 Transnational Publishers, Inc.

Krämer, L.  Kramer's EU environmental law.  9th ed. 2024 Hart

Leal-Arcas, R.  Climate change and international trade.  1st ed. 2013 Elgar (e-book)

Leal-Arcas, R (ed).  Climate and energy governance for a sustainable future.  1st ed. 2023 Springer (e-book)

Lee, M.  EU environmental law, governance and decision making.  2nd ed. 2014 Hart

Lees E., & Viñuales, J (eds).  Oxford handbook of comparative environmental law.  1st ed. 2019 OUP (e-book)

Lothian, S.  Marine conservation and international law: legal instruments for biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction.  1st ed. 2023 Routledge

Makuch, K., & Pereira, R.  Environmental and energy law.  1st ed. 2012 Wiley Blackwell

May, J., & Daly E (eds).  Human rights and the environment: legality, indivisibility, dignity and geography.  1st ed. 2019 Elgar

Mayer, B., and Zahar, A (eds).  Debating climate law.  1st ed. 2021 CUP (e-book)

Pelizzon, A.  Ecological jurisprudence: the law of nature and the nature of law.  1st ed. 2025 Springer (open access)

Rajamani, L., & Peel, J (eds).  Oxford handbook of international environmental law.  2nd ed. 2021 OUP (e-book)

Roggenkamp, M., & Redgwell, C.  Energy law in Europe: national, EU and international regulation.  3rd ed. 2016 OUP

Rudall, J.  Compensation for Environmental Damage under International Law.  1st ed. 2020 Routledge (e-book)

Sands, P., et al.  Principles of international environmental law.  4th ed. 2018  CUP (e-book)

Sands, P., & Galizzi, P (eds).  Documents in international environmental law.  2nd ed. 2004 CUP

Soltau, F.  Fairness in international climate change law and policy.  1st ed. 2009 CUP

Zillman, D.  Beyond the carbon economy.  1st ed. 2008 OUP

IALS Library holds a wide selection of current serial titles on environmental law from many different jurisdictions. These are located on all floors of the Library. Titles are available in both print and electronic formats, unless indicated otherwise on the list below. For more detailed help, please refer to the guide on Finding journal articles. The following titles focus particularly on environmental law and climate change but there may be relevant articles in less specialised journals.

Buffalo environmental law journal open access 

Canadian environmental law reports

Colorado environmental law journal  open access 2022-

Columbia journal of environmental law  open access

Duke environmental law and policy forum  open access 

Ecology law quarterly  open access 

Environmental law (Northwestern School of Law)  open access 

Environmental law review  E-journal

European energy and environmental law review

Harvard environmental law review open access

International and comparative environmental law

Journal of environmental law  E-journal

Journal of planning and environment law E-journal

Natural resources and environment E-Journal

Review of European Community and international environmental law E-journal

Revue juridique de l'environnement  E-journal

Yearbook of international environmental law E-Journal

If you are interested in legislation or cases concerning environmental law issues in specific countries you will need to consult the legislation or law reports for that jurisdiction.

Consult the Library Search to find the general classmark for the country you require. Consult consolidations of legislation, digests or indexes to trace particular acts or cases.

Academic users may also use databases like Lexis/Westlaw to find UK, US, EU or international decisions. For further information please refer to Law Databases or ask at the Library Enquiry Desk.

You may also find it useful to refer to our guides on finding Legislation and Cases or check to see if we have a Jurisdiction Research Guide for the country you are interested in.

Eagle-i is an internet portal maintained and updated by IALS library staff. It allows you to search for quality web resources on environmental law and climate change.

A valuable free source is BAILII, the British and Irish Legal information Institute which is based and maintained at IALS. It provides free access to full text UK judgments and legislation on a wide range of subjects including environmental law and climate change and also links to other free World Law databases. Jurisdictions covered in these resources include Commonwealth countries eg. AustLII  (Australia) and CanLII (Canada), France, Germany, Italy, the USA and South Africa.

The following represent a sample of the available quality individual web resources on environmental law and climate change:

European Union Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law  (IMPEL) (2021-)

Heidi Frostestad Kuehl.  Basic Guide to International Environmental Legal Research. Updated May/June 2022 (Globalex)

Heidi Frostestad Kuehl Global warming: a comparative guide to the E.U. and the U.S. and their approaches to the U.N. framework convention on climate change and the Kyoto protocol.  Published 2019 (GlobaLex)