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Marion Lemoine-Schonne

Institut de l'Ouest, Droit et Europe, University of Rennes, CNRS (CAT Group)
Metamorphoses of Law(s)? A critical exploration of planetary boundaries and their meaning for the law relating to the environment
18 March 2024 - 29 March 2024
Law
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Dr. Marion Lemoine-Schonne is a permanent researcher in the French National Research Center (CNRS) in international environmental and climate law. CNRS research fellow at the Institut de l’Ouest: Droit et Europe (IODE CNRS - University of Rennes, France), she conducted her previous work at the University of Köln, Ottawa and defended her PhD at Aix-Marseille University under the supervision of S. Maljean-Dubois (Law) and S. Thoron (Economics). She has led or is leading major interdisciplinary research projects entitled "The Flexibility of Law in the Face of Climate Change", "Carbon Markets to the Rescue of the Climate?", "INGILAW - The Law and Politics of Climate Engineering. For a cross-cutting approach to climate and ecosystem issues" and "NEUTRACLIM - Interrogating the place of carbon capture and storage to meet the challenge of climate neutrality. Interdisciplinary analysis in law, social and environmental sciences". Member of the Centre for Studies and Research of the Hague Academy of International Law in 2022 and of the Breton High Council for Climate since 2022, her recent work focuses on the relationship between science and law and the role of the IPCC in the evolution of international law.

Research Interests

International and european Climate Change law, social sciences and ecological transition

Metamorphoses of Law(s)? A critical exploration of planetary boundaries and their meaning for the law relating to the environment
(Collaborative project, awarded a NetIAS Constructive Advanced Thinking grant, 2021-2024)

The consequences of climate change necessitate a transition to sustainability. In the age of the Anthropocene, Earth system scientists identified in 2009 one influential way of thinking about what sustainability means in more practical terms thanks to the “planetary boundaries”. The concept refers to 9 inter-acting biophysical thresholds, considered true boundaries that must not be crossed to avoid abrupt, non-linear, potentially catastrophic, and largely unpredictable changes in the environment and on the planet. However, 7 planetary boundaries have already been transgressed. The scientists proposed a shift away from the essentially sectoral analyses of limits to growth aimed at minimizing negative externalities, toward the estimation of a “safe operating space” for human development. But how can this concept of planetary boundaries be operationalised in social sciences and law?

To explore the potential of the concept in social sciences and law, the team aims to highlight three key areas: Biodiversity & Climate Interactions, Health & the Environment, and Technologies & Science. For each issue, three critical reading grids of the law(s) relating to the environment, meaning different fields of international and national law that protect the environment, human rights law, economic law, etc., are applied, articulating the items: identification of actors, participation process and emergence of solutions. The proposed interdisciplinary project (law and social sciences) is motivated by a sense of urgency to react across all disciplines.

Key Publications

« Science, expertise et droit international en matière de changements climatiques - Science, expertise and international law on climate change », in Climate Change and the testing of International Law, Den haag Academy of International Law, Center for Studies and research, Jacqueline Peel & Sandrine Maljean-Dubois (Eds.), forthcoming 2023.

Building the law of climate engineering. For a cross-cutting approach to climate and ecosystem issues, Ed. avec. A. LANGLAIS, Éditions UGA, à paraître en 2023.

Regulating Climate Engineering, Carbon & Climate Law Review 2019/2, Guest Editors (avec A. LANGLAIS), Regulating Climate Engineering, juillet 2019.

 

 

Online workshop organized by the "Constructive Advanced Thinking" Research Group led by Marion Lemoine-Schonne, 2023-2024 Paris IAS Fellow
20 Mar 2024 09:30 -
20 Mar 2024 12:30,
Paris :
Planetary boundaries: a legal concept in the making for climate justice?

31227
2023-2024