Harold Samuel Professor of Law and Environmental Policy
Interests
- Public international law
- International dispute settlement (inter-State, investment and commercial disputes)
- Environmental law and policy (international, European and comparative perspectives)
- International investment law
- Climate, energy and natural resources law
- Human rights law and policy
Research centres and interest groups
CV / Biography
Professor Jorge E. Viñuales holds the Harold Samuel Chair of Law and Environmental Policy at the University of Cambridge and is the founding Director of the Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance (C-EENRG). He is also a Research Professor of International Law at LUISS, Rome, the Chairman of the Compliance Committee of the UNECE/WHO-Europe Protocol on Water and Health, a Member of the Institut de Droit International, a member of the arbitrator panels of ICSID and of the Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong international arbitration centres, and the former Director-General of the Latin-American Society of International Law.
Jorge has lectured widely around the world, including in Azerbaijan (Diplomatic Academy), Brazil (USP and PUC), Burundi (UNESCO Chair), China (PKU, Nanjing, Wuhan), France (College de France, EHESS, Pantheon-Assas, Sciences Po, Sorbonne), Georgia (Tbilisi), Greece (Thessaloniki), Italy (EUI, UC Milano, La Sapienza, Siena), Iran (TeIAS), Hungary (ELTE), Mexico (UAM), Norway (Oslo, ILPI), Rwanda (Kigali IAM), Spain (UAM, Rovira i Virgili), the UK (Edinburgh and Oxford), and the US (Harvard), and he regularly lectures in the UN Regional Courses (Addis Ababa, Montevideo, Santiago), the UN International Fellowship (The Hague), and the OAS courses (Rio de Janeiro).
He has published widely in his specialty areas, most recently his books The International Law of Energy (Cambridge University Press, 2022), Cassese's International Law (Oxford University Press, 2020, with P. Gaeta and S. Zappala), The UN Friendly Relations Declaration at 50: An Assessment of the Fundamental Principles of International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2020, editor), ICSID Reports, vols. 18, 19 and 20 (co-ed with M. Waibel), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Environmental Law (Oxford University Press, 2019, co-ed. with E. Lees), Experiments in International Adjudication: Historical Accounts (Cambridge University Press, 2019, co-ed. with I. de la Rasilla), The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. A Commentary (Oxford University Press, 2015), International Environmental Law (Cambridge University Press, 2015, second edition 2018, French edition 2015, Chinese edition 2021, with P.-M. Dupuy), The Foundations of International Investment Law (Oxford University Press, 2014, co-edited with Z. Douglas and J. Pauwelyn), Foreign Investment and the Environment in International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2012, reprint 2015), Environmental and Energy Law: International, European and Comparative Dimensions (Edward Elgar, 3 volumes, 2017, co-edited with E. Lees) and Diplomatic and Judicial Means of Dispute Settlement (Martinus Nijhoff, 2012, co-edited with L. Boisson de Chazournes and M. G. Kohen).
His ongoing work includes one book-length study on The Architecture of Environmental Law: A Comparative Analysis (on contract with Oxford University Press) and a monographic course on Aggravated State Responsibility for the Hague Academy of International Law as well as a series of interdisciplinary papers on complexity economics, integrated modelling and sustainability policy in co-authorship with colleagues from C-EENRG and elsewhere. The latter work has been published over time in journals such as Nature Climate Change, Nature Energy, Global Environmental Change, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, Energy Policy or Climate Policy.
Jorge has wide experience as a practitioner, both in an advisory and a litigation context. He was associate, counsel, and of counsel with two major law firms specialised in international law for a decade. In addition to his work for the UNECE/WHO, he has served as arbitrator, counsel, co-counsel, expert and, earlier in his career, as secretary of arbitration tribunals in inter-State, investment and commercial disputes. He regularly advises governments, companies, international organisations or major NGOs on different matters of environmental law and policy, investment law, human rights, maritime delimitation and public international law at large.
A dual Swiss/Argentine national, Jorge was educated in France (Doctorat - Sciences Po, Paris), the United States (LL.M. - Harvard Law School), Switzerland (Licence and Diplôme d’études approfondies in international relations - HEI; liz jur – Universität Freiburg; Licence and Diplôme d’études approfondies in political science – Université de Genève), and Argentina (Abogado – UNICEN).
His native language is Spanish and he is fluent in English, French and Italian and has working knowledge of some other languages.
Selected publications
Books
The International Legal Order in the 21st Century: Essays in Honour of Professor Marcelo G. Kohen (ed), 2023)
The International Law of Energy , 2022)
ICSID Reports - vol. 20: Attribution of Conduct to the State (ed), 2022)
ICSID Reports, vol 19: The Meaning of Investment (ed), 2021)
Cassese's International Law (with P. Gaeta & S. Zappala), 2020) 3rd Edition
The Friendly Relations Declaration at 50: An Assessment of the Fundamental Principles of International Law (ed), 2020)
ICSID Reports - Vol 18: Defence Arguments in Investment Arbitration (ed), 2020)
Experiments in International Adjudication: Historical Accounts (with I de la Rasilla) (eds), 2019)
The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Environmental Law (with E Lees) (eds), 2019)
The Organisation of the Anthropocene: In Our Hands?, 2018)
International Environmental Law (with P.-M. Dupuy), 2015)
El régimen jurídico internacional relativo al cambio climático: Perspectivas y prospectivas, 2010)
International Environmental Law (with Pierre-Marie Dupuy), 2018) 2nd Edition
Environmental and Energy Law: International, European, and Comparative Dimensions (with E. Lees) (eds), 2017)
A Human Rights Approach to Extraterritorial Environmental Protection? An Assessment, 2016)
Introduction au droit international de l’environnement (with P.-M. Dupuy), 2015)
The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. A Commentary (ed), 2015)
The Foundations of International Investment Law: Bringing Theory into Practice (with Professor Joost Pauwelyn and Professor Zachary Douglas) (eds), 2014)
Unité et diversité du droit international/Unity and Diversity of International Law (with D. Alland, V. Chetail, O. de Frouville) (eds), 2014)
Harnessing Foreign Investment to Promote Environmental Protection: Incentives and Safeguards (with Pierre-Marie Dupuy), 2013)
Foreign Investment and the Environment in International Law, 2012)
Diplomatic and Judicial Means of Dispute Settlement (with M. G. Kohen and L. Boisson de Chazournes), 2012)
Articles
"Comparing Environmental Law Systems" (2024) 73 International & Comparative Law Quarterly 247-258
"The Energy Transition at a Critical Juncture" (2023) 26 Journal of International Economic Law 627-648
"The Role of Advocates in the Conception of Advisory Opinion Requests" (2023) 117 American Journal of International Law Unbound 277
"Stranded fossil-fuel assets translate to major losses for investors in advanced economies" (2022) 12 Nature Climate Change 532
"Reframing incentives for climate policy action" (2021) 6 Nature Energy 1133
"Risk-opportunity analysis for transformative policy design and appraisal" Global Environmental Change 70 (2021) 102359
"A global pandemic treaty should aim for deep prevention" (2021) 397 The Lancet 1791
"Le project de Pacte mondial de l’environnement de 2017" (2020) 44 Revue Juridique de l’Environnement 279-307.
"'Two layers of self-regulation' (2020) 11 Transnational Legal Theory 16"
"Today as Yesterday? Unilateral Coercive Measures and Human Dignity" (2019) 18 Chinese Journal of International Law 437
"'The Protocol on Water and Health as a Strategy for Global Water Governance Integration'" (2019) 68 International and Comparative Law Quarterly 175-192
"'Too many butterflies? The micro-drivers of the international investment law system’" (2018) 9 Journal of International Dispute Settlement 628-653
"'Customary Law in Investment Regulation’ " (2014) 23 Italian Yearbook of International Law 23.
"'L’immunité d’exécution dans l’affaire de l’Ara Libertad devant le TIDM’ " (2013) 140 Journal du droit international (Clunet) 13-
"'The Rise and Fall of Sustainable Development’ " (2013) 22 RECIEL 3.
"'La distribución del riesgo regulatorio ambiental en el derecho de las inversiones internacionales’" (2012) 12 Anuario Mexicano de Derecho Internacional 169 (with F. Perez Aznar).
"'The “Resource Curse” – A Legal Perspective’ " (2011) 17 Global Governance 197.
"‘Balancing Effectiveness and Fairness in the Redesign of the Climate Change Regime’ " (2011) 24 Leiden Journal of International Law 223.
"'Du bon usage du droit international: Les négociations climatiques en perspective’ " (2010) 56 Annuaire français de droit international 437.
"'Legal Techniques for Dealing with Scientific Uncertainty in Environmental Law’ " (2010) 43 Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 437.
"'Iced Freshwater Resources: A Legal Exploration’ " (2009) 20 Yearbook of International Environmental Law 188
"'Michel Virally ou penser le phénomène juridique’ " (2009) 55 Annuaire français de droit international 1.
"'Access to Water in Foreign Investment Disputes’ " (2009) 21 Georgetown International Environmental Law Review 733.
"'Foreign Investment and the Environment in International Law: An Ambiguous Relationship’ " (2009) 80 British Yearbook of International Law 244.
"'The Contribution of the International Court of Justice to the Development of International Environmental Law’ " (2008) 32 Fordham International Law Journal 232.
"'L'amicus curiae dans l'arbitrage d'investissement’ " (2007) 22 ICSID Review-Foreign Investment Law Journal 380
"A Global Pact for the Environment: Conceptual Foundations" (2019) 28/1 RECIEL 1
"‘Macroeconomic impact of stranded fossil-fuel assets’" (2018) 8 Nature Climate Change 588
"‘Climate-Carbon Cycle Uncertainties and the Paris Agreement’" (2018) 8 Nature Climate Change 609
"'Environmental impact assessment for climate change policy with the simulation-based integrated assessment model E3ME-FTT-GENIE1’ " (2018) 20 Energy Strategy Reviews 195
"'The Paris Agreement on Climate Change: Less is More’ " (2017) 59 German Yearbook of International Law 11
"'La Protección Ambiental en el Derecho Consuetudinario Internacional’ " (2017) 69/2 Revista Española de Derecho Internacional 71
"'Investor diligence in investment arbitration: Sources and arguments’ " (2017) 32 ICSID Review-Foreign Investment Law Journal 346
"'Intellectual Property Rights as Protected Investments: How Open are the Gates?’ " (2016) 19 Journal of International Economic Law 91
"'Modelling complex systems of heterogeneous agents to better design sustainability transitions policy’" (2016) 37 Global Environmental Change 102
"'Rétroactivité et non-rétroactivité en droit international: Essai de clarification conceptuelle a partir de l’expérience du Tribunal de Nuremberg’" (2013/2014) 59 Annuaire français de droit international 327
"'Cartographies imaginaires: Observations sur la portée juridique du concept de « régime spécial » en droit international’ " (2013) 140 Journal du droit international (Clunet) 405
"'The Secret of Tomorrow: International Organisation through the Eyes of Michel Virally’" (2012) 23 European Journal of International Law 543
Book Chapters
"Corruption par les hauts représentants de l’État et immunité de juridiction pénale étrangère" in J. E. Viñuales, L. Boisson de Chazournes, A. Clapham, M. Hébié (ed(s)), The International Legal Order in the XXIst Century, 2023), pp. pp. 422-454
"Les sources du droit international sont-elles adaptées aux défis environnementaux ?" in C. Santulli, P. Martin-Bidou (ed(s)), Le droit international pour un monde nouveau , 2023), pp. 23-38
"Of fragments, concepts and missions: General principles of law in the work of the Institut de Droit International" in M. Kohen, I. van der Heijden (ed(s)), Sesquicentennial Book of the Institute of International Law 1873 – 2023 , 2023), pp. 395-410
"Attribution of Conduct to the State in Investment Arbitration" in J. Vinuales, M. Waibel, O. Hailes (ed(s)), ICSID Reports - vol 20: Attribution of Conduct to the State, 2022), pp. 16-95
"Sustainable Development" in L. Rajamani, J. Peel (ed(s)), The Oxford Handbook of International Environmental Law, 2021), pp. 285-301
"Customary International Law and the Environment" (with P.-M. Dupuy, G. Le Moli) in L. Rajamani, J. Peel (ed(s)), The Oxford Handbook of International Environmental Law, 2021), pp. 385-401
"'The Fundamental Principles of International Law - An Enduring Ideal?'" in J. E. Vinuales (ed(s)), The UN Friendly Relations Declaration at 50: An Assessment of the Fundamental Principles of International Law, 2020), pp. 1-11
"Defence Arguments in Investment Arbitration" in J. E. Vinuales and M. Waibel (ed(s)), ICSID Reports - Vol 18: Defence Arguments in Investment Arbitration, 2020), pp. 13-108
"'Experiments in International Adjudication: Past and Present'" in J. E. Vinuales and I. de la Rasilla (ed(s)), Experiments in International Adjudication: Historical Accounts, 2019), pp. 11-31
"'Comparative Environmental Law: Structuring a Field'" in E Lees and J E Vinuales (ed(s)), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Environmental Law, 2019), pp. 4-34
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