This article presents a critical analysis of Australia's federal renewable energy law. Its operation as a system of tradeable renewable energy certificates is briefly explained, before an analysis of the future of the Renewable Energy Target beyond 2020 is undertaken. The implications of the Federal Government's recently abandoned National Energy Guarantee and the subsequent decision no to expand or extend the Renewable Energy Target are discussed. The article presents an international comparison which demonstrates that Australia's national support for renewable energy is unambitious in relative terms. It argues that in several respects, Australian federal renewable energy is unambitious in relative terms. It argues that in several respects, Australian federal renewable energy law must be extended to address important issues that are presently receiving little legislative or political attention.

National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), as set forth in the 1993 Paris Principles, are expected to be independent bodies that promote and monitor state implementation of international human rights standards. In such a role, an individual NHRI bridges the gap between “international human rights obligations and actual enjoyment of human rights on the ground” and thereby operates as a nexus between a global human rights system and local conditions. A location at the nexus has the potential to offer opportunities to exercise powers as an intermediary on behalf of human rights in terms of enabling engagement between global and local levels. The analysis, however, draws upon the experiences of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) to assert that there are limits for institutions at the nexus between global and local. Using a public controversy from 2016 that questioned the legitimacy of the MNHRC and threatened its existence as an NHRI, the analysis seeks to improve understanding of the risks facing NHRIs and add insight into the ways contextual politics challenge expectations for NHRIs to operate as human rights intermediaries.

On 1 February 2011, the Seabed Disputes Chamber (“the Chamber”) delivered its first Advisory Opinion. The Opinion provides useful guidance to the international community concerned with the deep seabed. First and foremost, the Chamber accomplished its task to assist the ISA with independent and impartial judicial interpretation of the Convention and related instruments. States that intend to extract valuable resources now know that they must evaluate their legal codes, administrative capacity, and their judicial enforcement mechanisms to determine where they fall short of the standards that the Chamber has identified. For most states it will be necessary to introduce new laws to provide the requisite rules, regulations and procedures. Entities seeking sponsorship will likely wish to work with these governments to develop a workable regime. Other entities, such as those interested in scientific research, other economic uses, and protection of the ocean and seabed resources, will want to assist with this process to ensure that their interests are respected and that developing states are given assistance to develop appropriate laws and enforcement capacity. Finally, the limitations and gaps in the Convention’s liability scheme have now been identified and await the international legal community’s attention.

International Law: Cases and Materials with Australian Perspectives is the authoritative textbook for Australian international law students. Written by a team of experts, it examines how international law is developed, implemented and interpreted, and features comprehensive commentary throughout. All core areas of the law are covered, with chapters on human rights, law of the sea, international environmental law and enforcement of international law. Cases and treaties are dissected to highlight the key principles, rules and distinctive learning points. This new edition has been thoroughly updated in line with recent developments in the field and includes a new chapter on the use of force, as well as expanded content on the enforcement of international law, including sanctions, law enforcement against pirates and the 2011 Libyan conflict. International Law provides clear and rigorous analysis and is an indispensable resource for law students.

This is a contribution to a symposium volume on Dan Bodansky's "Art and Craft of International Environmental Law". It takes as its starting point, Bondansky's accurate claim that "International environmental law is neither a panacea nor a sham. It can play a constructive role, but that is all. It might be called a 'thirty-percent” solution.'" While it might be more than that some day, the contribution argues that outcome is not likely so long as the international community retains the concept of sustainable development, as it is currently understood, as its organizing principle.

Humanity is on the threshold of a technological revolution that will allow all human structures across the earth to undertake photosynthesis more efficiently than plants; making zero carbon fuels by using solar energy to split water (as a cheap and abundant source of hydrogen) or other products from reduced atmospheric carbon dioxide. The development and global deployment of such artificial photosynthesis (AP) technology addresses three of humanity’s most urgent public policy challenges: to reduce anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, to increase fuel security and to provide a sustainable global economy and ecosystem. Yet, despite the considerable research being undertaken in this field and the incipient thrust to commercialization, AP remains largely unknown in energy and climate change public policy debates. Here we explore mechanisms for enhancing the policy and governance profile of this frontier technology for energy sustainability, even in the absence of a global project on artificial photosynthesis.

The Law of the Sea and the Polar Regions: Interactions between Global and Regional Regimes analyzes the contemporary Law of the Sea and related areas of international law in Antarctica and the Arctic, with a particular focus upon the interaction of global and regional regimes. The global component of the international law of the sea - principally the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea - applies to the entire marine domain in both polar regions but explicitly requires regional implementation or acknowledges its usefulness. This volume  examines regional regimes for the Arctic and Antarctic on science, maritime security, fisheries and shipping by means of common research questions; thus enabling an overall synthesis and identification of trends, differences and similarities.

This is a review of Daniel Bodansky's "The Art and Craft of International Environmental Law." The piece considers Bodansky's idea of International Environmental Law as a 30% solution to international environmental problems in the context of: 1) norm proliferation and continuing environmental decline, and 2) the concept of sustainable development as an obstacle to environmental improvement.

This paper was presented at the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law on a panel considering the 2012 U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development. The paper provides a critical and provocative analysis of how the concept of sustainable development has become beholden to economic growth and, on this account, why it is unfit to continue to serve as the major organizing principle for global environmental protection.