NUS Law awarded two Bronze Medals at the Global Climate Law and Governance Student Essay Competition 2019

Eric Bea ’19 and Teo Tze She ’19 were awarded bronze medals at the Global Climate Law and Governance Student Essay Competition 2019. This essay competition was organised by the Climate Law and Governance Initiative to encourage student involvement in addressing the legal and governance challenges posed by climate change. Essays were related to various aspects of law and governance related to climate change or sustainable development. The awards were presented at the Climate Law and Governance Day event, held on 6 December 2019 at the Autonomous University of Madrid.

Eric’s essay, “If you like SDGs, then you Shoulda Put a Price on It” advocates for the implementation of a price signal for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) co-benefits in the future market mechanisms in Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement, supported by a baseline of no net negative impact to the SDGs generally, as well as using the transparency and stocktaking guidance adopted under Article 13 and 14 of the Paris Agreement to foster SDG co-benefits in Article 6 approaches.

Tze She’s essay, “Synergies between Climate Change & Biodiversity: An ecosystem-based approach under the Paris Agreement”, proposes to harness the synergies between the Paris Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to promote an ecosystem-based approach to climate change, by focusing on the adoption of ecosystem-based approaches to mitigate carbon emissions and adapt to climate change under Articles 4 and 7 of the Paris Agreement respectively.

On receiving the award, Eric said it was an honour to receive the award, and that he hopes that his essay can add to the growing body of work on the Paris Agreement, and that it contributes to the creation of the healthy development of the international climate law regime. Tze She said that she was humbled to have received international recognition for her work, and hopes that her paper will inspire a more dynamic and multifaceted approach in developing climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies.

The team would like to thank Associate Professor Jolene Lin (Director, APCEL), Adjunct Associate Professor Joseph Chun ’91 (NUS Law), Melissa Low (Research Fellow, Energy Studies Institute, NUS), and Mandy Fang Meng (ex-Postdoctoral Researcher, APCEL, NUS Law) for their guidance and support.

About Asia Pacific Centre for Environmental Law (APCEL)

APCEL was established on 1 July 1996 by the NUS Law Faculty in collaboration with the World Conservation Union-Commission on Environmental Law (IUCN-CEL) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). APCEL has since established itself as a centre of excellence in the region for research-based capacity building with a strong commitment to advancing innovative scholarship. The Centre’s areas of expertise include climate change law, Singapore environmental law, biodiversity conservation law, and international environmental law.

To find out more on APCEL, visit our homepage at http://law.nus.edu.sg/apcel or find us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/apcelnus