All legal education is climate law education: the core curriculum matters

This chapter presents the argument for the integration of climate change across the core curriculum of professionally accredited law degrees. As the climate crisis reshapes the legal landscape, it can no longer be confined to elective subjects or specialist areas of law. All fields of legal practice are increasingly touched by climate-related disputes, risks and reforms. Despite this, most law students graduate without exposure to the legal consequences of climate change. The chapter calls on legal educators to embed climate-related content within core subjects – such as torts, criminal law, administrative law and land law – through a variety of approaches suited to local contexts. It outlines how climate change intersects with key legal doctrines and explores how teaching law can adapt to reflect the interconnected and polycentric nature of contemporary legal challenges. Legal educators, it argues, have a professional responsibility to equip students with the knowledge and tools to respond meaningfully to climate change.