Sroyon 

MUKHERJEE

Dr Sroyon Mukherjee is a Research Fellow at the Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law (APCEL). Sroyon has a BA LLB degree from the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), India, and an LLM and PhD (2020) from the London School of Economics (LSE). His research focuses on environmental law and economics – specifically the valuation of natural resources and services – as well as climate change law and specialist environmental tribunals. He is also a guest lecturer at NUJS, teaching Behavioural Law and Economics, and Game Theory and Law, and an Assistant Editor for Transnational Environmental Law.

Before his career shift towards academia, Sroyon was an Associate in the General Banking team at Clifford Chance LLP, London. During his PhD, Sroyon was a visiting researcher at UC Berkeley and at the University of Copenhagen. He was also a graduate teaching assistant on Introduction to the Legal System (an undergraduate course at LSE), a Research Assistant with the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change, and an LLM Student Adviser and PhD Student Representative. In 2018, one of his articles on Indian constitutional law was cited by the Indian Supreme Court in a historic judgment decriminalising gay sex between consenting adults.

Research Interests

• Environmental law and economics
• Environmental valuation
• Climate change law
• Specialist environmental tribunals

Research Project

The Polluter Pays Principle in Courts: A Legal and Economic Analysis

Sroyon’s current research project builds on his PhD research about the role of courts in natural resource valuation. Using the framework of ‘valuation choices’ developed in his thesis, his research investigates how the Polluter Pays Principle has been interpreted and applied by courts – India being the first case study – in order to clarify some of the long-standing ambiguities surrounding the principle: Who is the polluter? How much should they pay? And how should the funds be used? Additionally, tracing the Polluter Pays Principle’s theoretical foundations in Economics, his research compares legal and economic justifications of the principle, for instance, whether its interpretations track traditional efficiency-based rationale, or whether the courts are pursuing other (equally valid) goals such as deterrence or distributive justice.

Presentations

• “Context-Driven Choices: Environmental Valuation in the Courtroom” iCourts, University of Copenhagen Lunch Seminar (2020)
• “US Courts, Technology Regulation and the Valuation of Environmental Benefits” IUCN Academy of Environmental Law Colloquium (2018)
• “Environmental Valuation by US Regulatory Agencies: Adequacy Challenges and Judicial Review” Oxoncourts, University of Oxford (2018, invited speaker)
• “Economist Proposes, Judge Disposes: Contingent Valuation of Natural Resources in the US Courtroom” Strathclyde Postgraduate Colloquium on Environmental Law and Governance (2017)

Publications

• “India in a Warming World: Integrating Climate Change and Development: Book Review” (2021) 30(1) Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law 152
• “Section 377 and the ‘Order of Nature’: Nurturing “Indeterminacy” in the Law?” (2009) 2 NUJS Law Review 433 – with Shamnad Basheer and Karthy Nair
• “Not So Funny Now Is It?: The Serious Issue of Parody In Intellectual Property Law” (2008) 1 Indian Journal of Intellectual Property Law 49 – with Rahul Saha
• “The Forest Rights Act, 2006: Settling Land, Unsettling Conservationists” (2008) 1 NUJS Law Review 293 – with Antara Roy
• “Making Corporations Liable for their Crimes: Traditional Doctrines and Fresh Ideas” (2007) All India Reporter Corporate Law Cases 270 – with Manavi B.H.