Research Handbook on Climate Finance and Investment Law

Edited by: Michael Mehling, Harro van Asselt

ISBN: 9781789905397

Published: December 2025

Format: Hardcover

Language: English

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited

Description

Climate finance and investment law sit at the crossing point of two of the fastest-evolving fields in international economic law. This Research Handbook, edited by Michael Mehling and Harro van Asselt, brings together leading scholars to examine how finance and investment frameworks are performing against climate policy objectives — from institutional climate finance under the UNFCCC to the implications of trade and investment treaties and the practical mechanics of project finance. Contributors map current legal trends and open research questions across climate risk, financial instruments and sectoral applications, making this a genuine reference work rather than a single-author argument.

Key Features

• Explains how multilateral development banks and dedicated funds like the Green Climate Fund channel international climate finance
• Analyses the Energy Charter Treaty and broader trade-investment law reform through a climate lens
• Covers practical financing instruments — carbon pricing, green bonds, and financing for climate-friendly energy, forestry and agriculture projects

Coverage

Seventeen chapters across five parts: international climate finance institutions and channels (UNFCCC-era institutions, the Green Climate Fund, MDBs, accountability, adaptation and loss-and-damage finance); international trade and investment law (the Energy Charter Treaty, investment law reform, energy subsidies); climate risk and the law (insurance, disclosure and fiduciary duties, fossil fuel divestment); leveraging climate finance and investment across sectors (carbon pricing, green bonds, energy, forestry and agriculture financing); and a concluding assessment of the field's past, present and future.

About the Editors

Michael Mehling and Harro van Asselt are leading scholars of climate law and policy, with research spanning international climate finance, emissions trading and the interaction between trade, investment and environmental law. Their contributor list draws on specialists across climate finance institutions, investment arbitration and financial regulation.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: mapping the field (van Asselt, Mehling); Part I — International Climate Finance: Institutions and Channels: 2. International climate finance institutions (Bodle); 3. The Green Climate Fund (Minas); 4. Multilateral development banks and climate finance (Haralampieva, Herrera-Martínez); 5. Accountability for international climate finance (Naudé Fourie); 6. Climate finance for adaptation and loss and damage (Alexandraki); Part II — International Trade and Investment Law: 7. The Energy Charter Treaty and climate change (Verburg); 8. Reforming international investment law for climate goals (Dietrich Brauch); 9. Energy subsidies and international trade law (Espa, van Asselt, Coppens); Part III — Climate Risk and the Law: 10. Climate-related risk and the insurance sector (Hecht, Shen); 11. Climate risk disclosure and fiduciary duties (Benjamin); 12. Divestment of fossil fuel assets (Rajavuori); Part IV — Leveraging Climate Finance and Investment: 13. Climate finance through carbon pricing (Acworth, Mehling, Santikarn); 14. Green bonds and other green financial instruments (Rose); 15. Financing climate-friendly energy projects (Brown); 16. Financing sustainable forestry and agriculture (Streck, Chagas, von Unger); Part V — Conclusion: 17. The past, present and future of climate finance and investment law (Mehling, van Asselt).

Why buy this book?

Climate finance and investment law is moving fast enough that a single-author treatment dates quickly — this handbook's breadth of contributors makes it the more durable reference for a law library building out its climate, energy and investment holdings for the years ahead.

Keywords

climate finance, investment law, Green Climate Fund, Energy Charter Treaty, carbon pricing, green bonds, climate risk disclosure, UNFCCC

Target Audience

Environmental and climate policymakers, academics in climate and investment law, financial regulators

Genre

International Investment Law, Environmental Law, Climate Change

Q&A

What does this Research Handbook cover?
It covers the full landscape of climate finance and investment law — from UNFCCC institutions and the Green Climate Fund to investment treaty reform, climate risk disclosure and green financial instruments.

Who are the editors?
Michael Mehling and Harro van Asselt, both leading scholars of climate law, finance and policy.

Does the book cover the Energy Charter Treaty?
Yes — Chapter 7 analyses the Energy Charter Treaty specifically in relation to climate change.

Is this a single-author book or an edited collection?
It is an edited Research Handbook with 17 chapters from specialist contributors across climate finance, investment law and financial regulation.

Where can I buy the Research Handbook on Climate Finance and Investment Law?
Directly from CLNZ Books, with worldwide delivery for university libraries, law firms and individual professionals.

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