The Application of Transboundary Harm Rules in the Context of Climate Change

With a brief introduction to the development and constituent elements of transboundary harm rules, Doudou will share her views on the ICJ’s examination of the rules’ application in climate change in its recent Advisory Opinion. Issues concerning the rules’ legal status, their interaction with other relevant laws, and their practical value in potential litigation will be addressed. 

*The sharing will be based exclusively on materials publicly released by the Court and will be undertaken in full compliance with the Court’s confidentiality rules. The views expressed in the sharing are personal and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Court or the Judge who supervised the speaker.

Huang Doudou received her PhD from the Faculty of Law at Maastricht University in June 2025. She worked as a Judicial Fellow at the International Court of Justice from 2024 to 2025. She also holds an LLM in public international law from Leiden University and an LLB from Shandong University.

Ewan White is a DPhil candidate in Law at the University of Oxford. Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, his doctoral project addresses the application of international environmental law to solar radiation modification. Ewan has also worked on a variety of interdisciplinary research projects at the interface between law and science as part of the Oxford Sustainable Law Programme, leading to publications in Climate Policy. Much of this research has focussed on the legal implications of States’ reliance on carbon dioxide removal to meet climate targets – a topic on which Ewan also advises the Climate Litigation Network, where he has acted as a Research Consultant for the past two years.