Home: Welcome

Dr. CHRISTINA VOIGT

Professor

University of Oslo
Department of Public and International Law
Norway

ABOUT

Dr. Christina Voigt is Professor of Law at the University of Oslo, Norway, and a renowned expert in international environmental law. She is passionate about legal issues of climate change, environmental multilateralism, and sustainability. Professor Voigt has published widely on these topics and is a frequent speaker at international and national events.

Professor Voigt is Chair of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL).

For more than 10 years, she also worked as legal adviser and negotiator for the Government of Norway in the UN climate negotiations. She is currently the first Co-chair of the Paris Agreement´s Compliance and Implementation Committee.

She has two young sons, lives on the beautiful Nesodden Peninsula near Oslo, Norway, and enjoys hiking, biking, skiing and sailing with her children.

Download picture

Download bio

Home: About Me

Home: Experience

EXPERIENCE

PROFESSOR OF LAW

since 2012

University of Oslo, Department of Public and International Law, Norway

Website https://www.jus.uio.no/ior/english/people/aca/chrisvo/

LEGAL ADVISER/ NEGOTIATOR

2012 - 2018

Norwegian Ministry of Climate and the Environment (with focus on negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement)

ASSOCIATE PROF.

2011 - 2012

University of Oslo, Department of Public and International Law

SENIOR ADVISER

2009- 2011

Norwegian Ministry of the Environment, The Government of Norway's International Climate and Forest Initiative (UNFCCC Lead negotiator for REDD+)

OTHER

Co-Chair of the Paris Agreement's Implementation and Compliance Committee (since June 2020)
Facilitator of negotiations on the procedures for the compliance committee in the Paris Agreement´s Rulebook, COP24, Katowice, Poland (2018, resulting in Decision 20/CMA.1)
Expert Consultant for UNEP (drafting of the UN Secretary General´s report: “Gaps in International Environmental Law and environment-related instruments: Towards a Global Pact for the Environment” (2018), United Nations General Assembly Res. A/73/419)
Expert Consultant for UNDP (Carbon Rights)
Facilitator of negotiations on ´entry into force´ of the Paris Agreement, COP21, Paris (2015)
Co-Chair for the UNFCCC COP work programme on results-based financing or REDD+ activities, COP19, Warsaw, Poland (2013) (resulting in Decision 9/CP.19)
Arbitrator at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (specialized arbitrator pursuant to the optional rules for arbitration of disputes relating to natural resources and/or the environment) (since 2015)
Member of International Legal Expert Drafting Panel on “Ecocide” (https://www.stopecocide.earth/expert-drafting-panel)
Vice Dean for International Affairs, Faculty of Law, University of Oslo (2011-2016)
Adviser to the Norwegian Member of the Board of the Green Climate Fund (2017)
Expert for the evaluation of proposals to the European Research Council (ERC) (since 2018)
Member of the Board of Governors, International Council for Environmental Law (ICEL) (since 2019)
Vice-Chair, International Law Association (ILA), Norwegian Branch (since 2013)
Member of the German Society for International Law
Alternate Member of the Board, Norwegian Center for Human Rights, Oslo
Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Human Rights and the Environment, RECIEL, Climate Law, Chinese Journal of Environmental Law, Environmental Policy and Law, Resource Management Theory & Practice (Thomson Reuters for the Resource Management Law Association of New Zealand (RMLA)
Honorary Member of the New Zealand Center for Environmental Law (NZCEL) (since 2008)
Founding Member of Concerned Scientists Norway (since 2008)
Member of the Global Network for the Study of Human Rights and the Environment
Senior legal counsel at the Center for Sustainable Development Law (CISDL)
Recipient of 2020 CISDL Legal Specialist Award for Climate Change

IUCN Work

Chair of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL) (2021-2025)
Member of the IUCN Climate Change Task Force
Member of IUCN Advisory Board on Nature-Based Recovery Initiative
Chair of the organising committee of the 14th Annual Colloquium of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law "The Environment in Court", Oslo, June 2016
Co-editor of "Courts and the Environment"; Christina Voigt and Zen Makuch (eds.) (IUCN AEL Proceedings; Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018)
Recipient of IUCN Academy of Environmental Law, Junior Research Scholarship Prize (2009)
For IUCN presentations and talks see: https://www.iucn.org/commissions/world-commission-environmental-law/events

PUBLICATIONS

BOOKS

INTERNATIONAL JUDICIAL PRACTICE ON THE ENVIRONMENT

Christina Voigt (ed.)

Cambridge University Press (2019)

Order here

RULE OF LAW FOR NATURE

Christina Voigt (ed.)

Cambridge University Press (2013)

Order here

THE COMMON INTEREST IN INTERNATIONAL LAW

Wolfgang Benedek, Koen De Feyter, Matthias Kettemann and Christina Voigt (eds.)

Intersentia (2014)

Order here

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AS A PRINCIPLE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW - RESOLVING CONFLICTS BETWEEN CLIMATE MEASURES AND WTO LAW

Christina Voigt

Brill (2009)

Order here

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL LAW

Hans Christian Bugge and Christina Voigt (eds.)

Europa Law Publishing (2008)

Order here

RESEARCH HANDBOOK ON REDD+ AND INTERNATIONAL LAW

Christina Voigt (ed.)

Edward Elgar Publishing (2017)

Order here

PRO NATURA - FESTSKRIFT TIL HANS CHRISTIAN BUGGE

Christina Voigt, Inge Lorange Backer, and Ole Kristian Fauchald (eds.)

Universitetsforlaget (Oslo), 2012

Publications

COURTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Christina Voigt and Zen Makuch (eds.)

Edward Elgar Publishing (2018)

Order here

ARTICLES (select.)

Voigt, Christina (2023) The Power of the Paris Agreement in International Climate Litigation, 32 RECIEL 2, 237-249.

Voigt, Christina (2022) The Climate Dimension of Human Rights Obligations: Due Diligence and States´ Positive Obligations, Journal of Human Rights and the Environment, 152-171

Voigt, Christina (2021) The Climate Judgment of the Norwegian Supreme Court: Aligning the Law with Politics, Journal of Environmental Law, 1-14 (open access).

de Andrade Correa, Fabiano and Voigt, Christina (2021) The Paris Agreement and Net-Zero Emissions: What Role for the Land Sector?, Vol. 15 Carbon and Climate Law Review No. 1, 1-12.

Voigt, Christina ( 2021) Climate Change and the Oceans: Implications for International Law, in: A. Pozdnakova and F.M. Platjouw (eds.) ´Rule of Law for the Oceans´ (Cambridge University Press), 17-30.

Voigt, Christina (2022) State Responsibility for Damages Associated with Climate Change, in: M. Doelle and S. Seck (eds.) ´Research Handbook on Climate Change Loss and Damage´ (Edward Elgar Publishing), 166-183.

Voigt, Christina (2021) Desenvolvimento ecologicamente sustentavel: Um principio fundamental do Estado de Direito Ambiental/Ökologisch nachhaltige Entwicklung - Ein Grundprinzip des Umweltrechtsstaates, in: A. Herman Benjamin, L. Morgenstern, M. Westland (eds.) ´Estado de Direito Ambiental - Der Umweltrechtsstaat´ (Deutsche Botschaft Brasilia and Senado Federal do Brasil) 133-180.

Gasparatos, Alexandros, Ahmed, Abubakari, and Voigt Christina (2021) Facilitating policy responses for renewable energy and biodiversity, 36 Trends in Ecology and Evolution 5 (TREE), 377-380.

Voigt, Christina (2021) Climate Change as a Challenge for Global Governance, Courts and Human Rights in: W. Kahl and M. Weller (eds.) Climate Change Litigation - Liability and Damages from a Comparative Perspective (Verlag C.H. Beck/Hart), 1-19.

Voigt, Christina (2021) International Environmental Responsibility and Liability in: L. Rajamani and J. Peel, Oxford Handbook of International Environmental Law (Oxford University Press), chapter 59.

Voigt, Christina (2020) Climate Change, the Critical Decade and the Rule of Law, Australian Yearbook of International Law, Volume 37, 50-62.

Voigt, Christina (2020) Climate Change, IUU Fishing and the Law of the Sea, International Community Law Review 22 (Special Issue), 377-388.

Voigt, Christina and Knox, John (2020), Introduction to Symposium on Climate Change Litigation in the Global South, American Journal of International Law (AJIL) Unbound, Volume 114, 35-39.

Voigt, Christina and Xiang, Gao (2020) Accountability in the Paris Agreement: The Interplay between Transparency and Compliance, Nordic Journal of Environmental Law, 2020:1, 31-57.

Voigt, Christina (2019) Climate Change at the Courts: The Role of the Judiciary in Cases related to Climate Change in: M. Harris and S. Mount (eds.) The Promise of Law: Essays marking the retirement of Dame Sian Elias as Chief Justice of New Zealand (LexisNexis), 125-144.

Voigt, Christina (2019) The Role of International Courts in Protecting Environmental Commons, 41:2 University of Hawai´i Law Review (UHLR), 243-247.

Voigt, Christina (2019) The Environment and Peace: What Role for International Law?, in: C. M. Bailliet (ed.) Research Handbook on International Law and Peace (Edward Elgar Publishing), 219-243.

Gu Zihua, Christina Voigt and Jacob Werksman (2019) Facilitating Implementation and Promoting Compliance with the Paris Agreement: Conceptual Challenges and Pragmatic Choices, 9 Climate Law, 65-100.

Voigt, Christina (2019) How could a “Global Pact for the Environment” add value to International Environmental Law?, 28 RECIEL, 13-24.

Voigt, Christina (2017) Institutional Arrangements and Final Clauses, in: D. Klein, M. P. Carazo, M. Doelle, J. Bulmer and A. Higham (eds.) The Paris Agreement on Climate Change: Analysis and Commentary (OUP) 352-372.

Voigt, Christina and Ferreira, Felipe (2016) “Dynamic Differentiation”: The Principles of CBDR-RC, Progression and Highest Possible Ambition in the Paris Agreement, 5 Transnational Environmental Law 2, 285-303.

Voigt, Christina (2016) The Compliance and Implementation Mechanism of the Paris Agreement, 25 Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law 2, 1-13.

Voigt, Christina and Ferreira, Felipe (2016) Differentiation in the Paris Agreement, 6 Climate Law, 58-74.

Voigt, Christina (2016) ‘The Paris Agreement: What is the standard of conduct for Parties?’, Questions of International Law 26, 17-28; available at:<http://www.qil-qdi.org/paris-agreement-standard-conduct-parties/>.

Voigt, Christina (2016) The kaleidoscopic world of REDD+, in: C. Voigt (ed.) ‘Research Handbook on REDD+ and International Law’(Edward Elgar Publishing) 1-7.

Voigt, Christina (2016) The potential roles of the ICJ in climate change-related claims, in: D.A. Farber and M. Peeters (eds.) Climate Change Law - Encyclopaedia of Environmental Law Series (Edward Elgar Publishing) 152-166.

Voigt, Christina (2016) Climate Change and Damages, in: C. Carlarne, K. Grey and R Tarasofsky (eds.) ‘Oxford Handbook of International Climate Change Law’ (Oxford University Press) 464-494.

Voigt, Christina et al. (2015) The Warsaw Framework for REDD+: Implications for national implementation and access to results-based payments, 2 Carbon and Climate Law Review, 113-129.

Voigt, Christina and Grant, Evadne (2015) The Legitimacy of Human Rights Courts in Environmental Disputes - Editorial, 1 Journal of Human Rights and the Environment 2, 131-138.

Voigt, Christina (2015) Principle 8 – Sustainable Production and Consumption, in: J. Viñuales (ed.) ‘The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development: A Commentary’ (Oxford University Press) 245-267

Voigt, Christina (2015) Environmentally Sustainable Development and Peace: What Role for International Law?, in: C. M. Bailliet and K. M. Larsen (eds.) ‘Promoting Peace through International Law’ (Oxford University Press) 166-188.

Geir Ulfstein and Christina Voigt (2014) Rethinking the Legal Form and Architecture of a New Climate Agreement, in: T. L. Cherry, J. Hovi, and D. McEvoy (eds.) ‘Toward a New Climate Agreement: Conflict, Resolution and Governance’ (Routledge) 183-198.

Voigt, Christina (2014) Equity in the 2015 climate agreement: Lessons from differential treatment in multilateral environmental agreements, 4 Climate Law 2014, 50-69.

Voigt, Christina (2014) Delineating the Common Interest in International Law, in: W. Benedek, K. De Feyter, M. Kettemann, Ch. Voigt (eds.) ‘Common Interest in International Law’ (Cambridge: Intersentia) 9-27.

Voigt, Christina (2012) Up in the Air – Aviation in the EU ETS and the Question of Jurisdiction, 2011-2012 Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies 14 (CYELS), 475-506.

Voigt, Christina (2012) The Durban Platform Agreement – Seven Reasons for a Protocol,15/3 Ethics, Policy and the Environment, 276-282.

Voigt, Christina (2012) Rule of Law for Nature – Ideas and Developments, 42:3 Environmental Policy and Law, 164-166.

Voigt, Christina (2012) A precautionary approach to the Whaling Convention: Will the International Court of Justice challenge the legality of ‘scientific’ whaling?, in: I. L. Backer, O. K. Fauchald, and C. Voigt (eds.) Pro Natura - Festskrift til Hans Christian Bugge (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget) 557-584.

Voigt, Christina (2012) Compliance in Transition Countries, in: J. Brunnée, M. Doelle and L. Rajamani (eds.) ‘A Compliance System for the Post-2012 Cliamte Change Regime’ (Cambridge University Press) 339-366.

Voigt, Christina and Bugge, Hans Christian (2011) Legal Issues Related to the Promotion and Regulation of Renewable Energy in EU Member States – Synthesis Report, Avosetta Meeting, Oslo 1-2 April 2011, published at: www.avosetta.org.

Voigt, Christina (2009) Sustainable Security, 19 Yearbook of International Environmental Law (YbIEL) 2008 (Oxford: Oxford University Press) 163-196.

Voigt, Christina (2009) Environmental Integrity and Non-Discrimination in the Norwegian Emissions Trading Scheme, 18 Review of European Community and International Environmental Law 3 (RECIEL) 304-311.

Voigt, Christina (2009) Responsibility for the Environmental Integrity of the CDM: Judicial Review of Executive Board Decisions, in: D. Freestone and C. Streck (eds.) Legal Aspects of Carbon Trading: Kyoto, Copenhagen and Beyond (Oxford: Oxford University Press) 272-294.

Voigt, Christina (2009) The Deadlock of the Clean Development Mechanism: Caught between Sustainability, Environmental Integrity and Economic Efficiency, in: B.Richardson, S. Wood, H. McLeod-Kilmurray and Y. Le Bouthillier (eds.) Climate Law and Developing Countries: Legal and Policy Challenges for the World Economy (Edward Elgar Publishing) 235-261.

Voigt, Christina (2009) Security in a ‘Warming World’: Competences of the UN Security Council for Preventing Dangerous Climate Change, in: C. Bailliet (ed.) Security: A Multidisciplinary Normative Approach (Leiden: Brill Publishers) 291-312.

Voigt, Christina (2008) State Responsibility and Climate Change Damages, 77 Nordic Journal of International Law Nr.1-2, 1-22.

Voigt, Christina (2008) Climate Change and the Mandate of Sustainable Development, in: H. Ch. Bugge and Ch. Voigt (eds.) Sustainable Development in National and International Law – What did the Brundtland Report do to Legal Thinking and Development? (Groningen: Europa Law Publishing) 545-572.

Voigt, Christina (2008) WTO Law and International Emissions Trading: Is there Potential for Conflict?, 1 Carbon & Climate Law Review, 52-64. Reprinted in: (2008) 4 Environmental Liability, 136-147.

Voigt, Christina (2008) Is the Clean Development Mechanism Sustainable? Some Critical Aspects, 8 Sustainable Development Law and Policy (SDLP) 2, 15-21.

Voigt, Christina (2003) The Protection of Indigenous Forests on Private Land and the Role of Local Government, 7 New Zealand Journal of Environmental Law (NZJEL), 169-202.

Voigt, Christina (2002) The Precautionary Principle and Genetic Engineering in New Zealand, 6 NZJEL,43-96.

Home: Articles