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Ecological Transition in Economic Law (TEDE)

The Ecological Transition and the Teaching of Economic Law. Volume 2 (2025)

Program
Registration (free but required)

In summary

This conference on“The Ecological Transition and the Teaching of Economic Law: Act 2” will beheld at the Université Côte d’Azur (Nice) on October 17, 2025.

It is intended to further the discussion on how economic law is taught in light of the challenges posed by the ecological transition. 

An initial conference on this topic was held at the École Normale Supérieure in October 2023, and the proceedings were published by the Revue internationale de droit économique. The conference on October 17, 2025, serves as a follow-up to that initial conference. 

The aim of this second conference is to assess the initiatives undertaken to transform the teaching of economic law in light of the ecological transition. The goal is to shed light on the objectives and scope of these initiatives, to explore the obstacles hindering their development, and to identify the factors that contribute to their success within a complex and competitive academic landscape. 

Background of the event

A Duty to Make Legal Education More Sustainable. In recent years, many voices have spoken out to urge higher education institutions to transform themselves in response to the ecological crisis. The Grenoble Agreement, signed in 2021 by several higher education institutions and student organizations, affirms the urgent and cross-cutting nature of the transformations needed in this area. It calls on institutions to modify not only their educational models, but also their governance, their methods of knowledge production, and their relationship with society. The report Raising Awareness and Providing Training on the Challenges of Ecological Transition and Sustainable Development in Higher Education, submitted to the Minister of Higher Education and Research in 2022, as well as a Framework and Recommendations document from the Ministry of Higher Education and Research in 2023, go even further. They call for the cross-cutting and systematic integration of environmental issues into all degree programs, including law programs, in order to move beyond the sole reliance on optional modules. The Ministry, in its Climate and Biodiversity Plan for Higher Education and Research, published in 2023, has made the ecological transition a national priority for university programs. This topic should lead to the teaching of a common core of knowledge that every higher education student should master. At the same time, the legal framework has evolved to make education on the environment, sustainable development, and the ecological transition a mandatory subject of study at all levels of the education system. Legal education is therefore now required to incorporate sustainability issues. 

The Greening of Economic Law Education: A Source of Debate. The very principle of transforming legal education in the name of sustainability is open to debate. This raises questions about the scope and limits of academic freedom. Discussions are underway regarding the place of sustainability-related courses within the curriculum. In recent decades, the trend has been to incorporate courses on sustainability issues into optional and specialized courses offered at the Master’s level, for example through first- or second-year Master’s courses on environmental law, or even specialized Master’s programs in this field. This traditional structure responded to a dual trend. On the one hand, contrary to the conception that gave rise to it, economic law has increasingly been equated with business law, structured around objectives of economic and financial performance and the promotion of the economic rights and freedoms of businesses (protection of property, freedom of enterprise, etc.). On the other hand, environmental law specialists emphasized, in this context, the importance of conceiving environmental law as a branch of law with strictly ecological objectives. The worsening of the ecological crisis, however, has called into question this structure of academic pathways and the corresponding body of knowledge. On the one hand, it is becoming increasingly difficult to treat ecological issues as falling outside the scope of basic legal education, particularly in economic law. Indeed, environmental degradation is rooted in economic activities and their legal organization. The transformation of economic law—and its teaching—therefore appears to be a prerequisite for the ecological transition. On the other hand, current developments in environmental regulation demonstrate how susceptible it is to the interests of certain economic actors, and how its level of ecological ambition depends on the ability to first foster the emergence of more sustainable business models. The traditional divide between economic law and environmental law thus appears to be in crisis. Nevertheless, not all educators agree on the meaning of integrating sustainability issues into economic law curricula. For some, it is a necessary step to reflect the changes in positive law that have occurred in recent years. For others, it is an opportunity to introduce a more theoretical, critical, interdisciplinary, and forward-looking shift in legal education.

The ongoing integration of environmental considerations into economic law curricula and teaching materials. Curricula and teaching materials are evolving to make an increasingly prominent and visible place for the necessary synergies between economic law and environmental law. Interdisciplinary master’s programs combining economic law and environmental law, legal clinics dedicated to the ecological transition, and discussions on more interdisciplinary teaching materials and methods are emerging. There is already a growing number of economic law textbooks that give significant attention to sustainability issues, particularly environmental ones. Some works now discuss the complementarity between economic regulation and environmental protection. Others integrate ecological issues into their very structure. A book on international economic law, published in 2023, proposes, for example, a complete overhaul of the discipline based notably on the goal of ecological transition. 

A dynamic that is uneven, incomplete, and faces obstacles. The momentum at work has not reached the same level across all fields of economic law, and it is undoubtedly incomplete. The traditional division between public law and private law continues to shape the mindset of legal professionals. Environmental issues remain marginal in the preparation for competitive exams leading to careers in law—the Bar (CRFPA), the judiciary (ENM), teaching (Agrégation)… Ultimately, issues of the environment, sustainability, and transition are increasingly permeating the teaching of economic law, though we are not yet able to fully grasp the extent of this phenomenon or identify its implications.

Please complete the pre-conference questionnaire (deadline: July 18, 2025)

Share your views on the trends, challenges, and difficulties involved in making economic law more environmentally friendly by completing this questionnaire.

Steering Committee

Marie-Alice CHARDEAUX, Associate Professor (HDR), University of Paris-Est Créteil

Florian COUVEINHES-MATSUMOTO, Associate Professor (HDR), ENS-PSL

Aude-Solveig Epstein, Associate Professor at Paris Nanterre University, Visiting Associate Professor at NYU Abu Dhabi

Maxime LASSALLE, Associate Professor at the University of Burgundy Europe

Gilles J. MARTIN, Professor Emeritus at the Université Côte d’Azur

Irina PARACHKÉVOVA-RACINE, Professor at the Université Côte d’Azur

Program
Registration (free but required)
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