This week, the Collegium is hosting a group of early-career CAT scholars working on a research project named Metamorphoses of Law(s)? A Critical Exploration of Planetary Boundaries and Their Meaning for the Law Relating to the Environment.

The Constructive Advanced Thinking (CAT) programme, which is an initiative of the Network of European Institutes for Advanced Study (NetIAS), gives outstanding early-career researchers the opportunity to focus on basic research dedicated to the development of new ideas to understand and address current or emerging societal challenges. It also aims at supporting the transformation of these ideas into real-world action and to foster networks of advanced thinking. An important feature of the programme is short-term visits to different Institutes for Advanced Study (IAS) where the scholars meet with Fellows in residence at the institutes, as well as local research communities.

The Metamorphoses of Law(s)? project External link, opens in new window. was selected for the 2023-2026 CAT cohort and the week-long residency at SCAS is one of six scheduled stays at Institutes for Advanced Study across Europe.

The members of the group are Anne Dienelt (Law, University of Hamburg), Vincent Gengnagel (Political Sociology, Europa-Universität Flensburg), PI Marion Lemoine-Schonne (Law, CNRS), Camila Perruso (Law, University of Montpellier Paul-Valéry), and Henrik Thorén (Philosophy, Lund University).

In their own words, the project that Lemoine-Schonne and her team are working on is described as follows:

"Climate change is spiraling out of control, cascading into ecological collapse, and severely threatening today’s societies. The consequences of climate change necessitate a transition to sustainability. One influential way of thinking about sustainability in more practical terms is the planetary boundaries framework. In the age of the Anthropocene, Earth system scientists identified several “planetary boundaries” in 2009. The concept refers to nine interacting biophysical thresholds, considered actual boundaries that must not be crossed to avoid abrupt, non-linear, potentially catastrophic, and largely unpredictable environmental and planet changes. However, seven planetary boundaries have already been transgressed. The scientists proposed a shift away from the essentially sectoral analyses of limits to growth aimed at minimizing negative externalities toward the estimation of a “safe operating space” for human development. But how can this concept of planetary boundaries be operationalized in social sciences and law?

To explore the concept's potential in social sciences and law, the CAT team aims to highlight three key areas: Biodiversity & Climate Interactions, Health & the Environment, and Human Rights & Climate Litigation. For each issue, three critical reading grids of the law(s) relating to the environment, meaning different fields of international and national law that protect the environment, such as human rights law, economic law, etc., are applied, focussing on the following aspects: identification of actors, participation process and the emergence of solutions.

The interdisciplinary project (law, sociology, and philosophy of science) is motivated by a sense of urgency to react across all disciplines. The CAT framework allows the team to connect to researchers from various disciplines at the institutes, their research communities, and other stakeholders on site (NGOs, governments, public authorities, and corporations). At the end of the project, a science comic complements academic publications and blog posts to reach a broader audience."