Exciting new perspectives and approaches opened up for the many legal, social, humanities and natural scientists involved. The Umweltrechtsforum at the University of Graz 2016 was held under the theme of the tension between "climate protection law between aspiration and reality". Over 100 participants from across Austria took part in the event, which was organised by the University of Graz, the Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change, the ÖAW and CCCA. The aim of the event was to examine this topic for the first time from a range of scientific perspectives. The forum also welcomed Daniel Ramos, Legal Officer of the World Trade Organisation, as keynote speaker.
Drawing on examples from both national and international levels, the relevance as well as the challenges surrounding climate protection legislation and case law were vividly illustrated. The important and lasting networking of legal with natural and social sciences on this topic, as well as the interdisciplinary diversity of participants, underline the significance of environmental law and represent a concrete mandate for CCCA to promote this event as a starting point for expanding cooperation between the aforementioned disciplines.
As a first result of this new collaboration, a conference proceedings volume featuring contributions from the speakers will be produced. Once this volume is complete, it will be available for download here.