School of Geography and the Environment

Profile

Harro van Asselt, LL.M. (International Law, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), is Marie Curie Fellow at the Environmental Change Institute, and Visiting Researcher and Ph.D. candidate at the department of Environmental Policy Analysis at the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM) of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He is also a Research Fellow with the Multiple Options, Solutions and Approaches: (Institutional) Interplay and Conflict ('MOSAIC') group of the international Global Governance Project, as well as a Research Fellow with the Earth System Governance project.

His main research interests include international climate change law and policy, trade and environment interactions, international environmental governance, and the implementation of European environmental law and policy. Currently, he is working on his doctoral thesis on the fragmentation of global climate change governance, in which he examines interactions between the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Kyoto Protocol and other international agreements, including the Convention on Biological Diversity and the agreements of the World Trade Organization. From February to May 2007 he was a Visiting Associate at the Department of Value and Decision Science at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan. From October to December 2008, he was a Visiting Research Scholar at the Dean Rusk Center of the University of Georgia School of Law, United States.

Harro has published numerous book chapters and articles in peer-reviewed academic journals, and is co-editor of the book Climate Change Policy in the European Union: Confronting the Dilemmas of Mitigation and Adaptation? (Cambridge University Press, 2010). He is Managing Editor of the interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, and Associate Editor of the Carbon & Climate Law Review. He is member of the International Law Association, the International Studies Association, and the European Society of International Law.

Selected Publications

Edited books and special issues

• Jordan, A., Huitema, D., van Asselt, H., Rayner, T., and Berkhout, F. (eds.) (2010) Climate Change Policy in the European Union: Confronting the Dilemmas of Mitigation and Adaptation? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• van Asselt, H. and Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen, S. (eds.) (2009) Exploring and explaining the Asia-Pacific Partnership on clean development and climate. Special Issue of International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 9(3): 195-336.
• Simmons, B., van Asselt, H. and Zelli, F. (eds.) (2009) Climate and Trade Policies in a Post-2012 World. Geneva: United Nations Environment Programme.

Journal articles

• Asselt, Harro van (2011). Integrating Biodiversity in the Climate Regime’s Forest Rules: Options and Tradeoffs in Greening REDD Design. Review of European Community and International Environmental Law 20(2), 139-149.
• Bakker, S., Haug, C., Van Asselt, H., Gupta, J., and Saïdi, R. (2011) The future of the CDM: same same, but differentiated? Climate Policy, 11(1): 752-767.
• Haug, C., Rayner, T., Jordan, A., Hildingsson, R., Stripple, J., Monni, S., Huitema, D., Massey, E., van Asselt, H. and Berkhout, F. (2010) Navigating the dilemmas of climate policy in Europe: evidence from policy evaluation studies. Climatic Change.
• van Asselt, H. and Brewer, T. (2010) Addressing competitiveness and leakage concerns in climate policy: an analysis of border adjustment measures in the US and the EU. Energy Policy 38(1): 42-51.
• van Asselt, H. (2010) Copenhagen chaos? Post-2012 climate change policy and international law. Amsterdam Law Forum, 2(2): 9-16.
• van Asselt, H. and Gupta, J. (2009) Stretching too far: developing countries and the role of flexibility mechanisms beyond Kyoto. Stanford Environmental Law Journal, 28(2): 311-378.
• van Asselt, H., Kanie, N. and Iguchi, M. (2009) Japan's position in international climate policy: navigating between Kyoto and the APP. International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 9(3): 319-336.
• Biermann, F., Pattberg, P., van Asselt, H. and Zelli, F. (2009) The fragmentation of global governance architectures: a framework for analysis. Global Environmental Politics, 9(4): 14-40.
• Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen, S. and van Asselt, H. (2009) Introduction: exploring and explaining the Asia-Pacific partnership on clean development and climate. International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 9(3): 195-211.
• van Asselt, H., Sindico, F. and Mehling, M. (2008) Global climate change and the fragmentation of international law. Law & Policy, 30(4): 423-449.
• Gupta, J., van Beukering, P., van Asselt, H., Brander, L., Hess, S. and van der Leeuw, K. (2008) Flexibility mechanisms and sustainable development: lessons from five AIJ projects. Climate Policy, 8(3): 261-276.
• van Asselt, H. (2007) From UN-ity to diversity? The UNFCCC, the Asia-Pacific Partnership, and the future of international law on climate change. Carbon and Climate Law Review, 1(1): 17-28.
• van Asselt, H. and Biermann, F. (2007) European emissions trading and the international competitiveness of energy-intensive industries: a legal and political evaluation of possible supporting measures. Energy Policy, 35(1): 497-506.
• van Asselt, H., van der Grijp, N. and Oosterhuis, F. (2006) Greener public purchasing: opportunities for climate-friendly government procurement under WTO and EU rules. Climate Policy, 6(2): 217-229.
• Gupta, J. and van Asselt, H. (2006) Helping operationalise Article 2: a transdisciplinary methodological tool for evaluating when climate change is dangerous. Global Environmental Change, Part A: Human and Policy Dimensions, 16(1): 83-94.
• van Asselt, H., Gupta, J. and Biermann, F. (2005) Advancing the climate agenda: exploiting material and institutional linkages to develop a menu of policy options. Review of European Community and International Environmental Law, 14(3): 255-264.

Book chapters

• Asselt, Harro van (2011). Legal and Political Approaches in Interplay Management: Dealing with the Fragmentation of Global Climate Governance. In: Sebastian Oberthür & Olav Schram Stokke (Eds.), Managing Institutional Complexity: Regime Interplay and Global Environmental Change. (pp. 59-86). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
• van Asselt, H. (forthcoming, 2011) Dealing with the fragmentation of global climate governance: legal and political approaches in interplay management. In, Oberthür, S. and O.S. Stokke (eds.) Institutional Interplay and Global Environmental Change: State of the Art and Perspectives. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
• van Asselt, H., Haug, C., Bakker, S. and Gupta, J. (forthcoming, 2010) Differentiation in the CDM: options and challenges. In, Mehling, M.L., Merrill, A. and K. Upston-Hooper (eds.) Implementing the Clean Development Mechanism: Legal and Institutional Challenges. Berlin: Lexxion.
• van Asselt, H. (2010) Emissions trading: the enthusiastic adoption of an alien instrument? In, Jordan, A., Huitema, D., van Asselt, H., Rayner, T. and F. Berkhout (eds.) Climate Change Policy in the European Union: Confronting the Dilemmas of Mitigation and Adaptation? pp. 125-144. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• van Asselt, H. and Gupta, J. (2010) Incorporating climate change in EU Member States' development cooperation. In, Gupta, J. and N. van der Grijp (eds.) Mainstreaming Climate Change in Development Cooperation: Theory, Practice and Implications for the European Union. pp. 206-252. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Biermann, F., Pattberg, P., Zelli, F., van Asselt, H., Boas, I., Flachsland, C., Goel, N., Hof, A., Jerneck, A., Massey, E., Olsson, L. and Stripple, J. (2010) Global climate governance after 2012: architecture, agency and adaptation. In, Hulme, M. and H. Neufeldt (eds.) Making Climate Change Work for Us: European Perspectives on Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies. pp. 263-290. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Jordan, A., Huitema, D. and van Asselt, H. (2010) Climate change policy in the European Union: an introduction. In, Jordan, A., Huitema, D., van Asselt, H., Rayner, T. and F. Berkhout (eds.) Climate Change Policy in the European Union: Confronting the Dilemmas of Mitigation and Adaptation? pp. 3-26. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Zelli, F. and van Asselt, H. (2010) The overlap between the UN climate regime and the World Trade Organization: lessons for post-2012 climate governance. In, Biermann, F., Pattberg, P. and F. Zelli (eds.) Global Climate Governance Beyond 2012: Architecture, Agency and Adaptation. pp. 79-96. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Commissioned papers

• van Asselt, H., Berseus, J., Gupta, J. and Haug, C. (2010) Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) in developing countries: challenges and opportunities. Scientific Assessment and Policy Analysis (WAB) for Climate Change Report 500102 035, Bilthoven: Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency.
• van Asselt, H. (2009) The EU ETS in the European climate policy mix: past, present and future. Deliverable P2.5 for the project Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies (ADAM): Supporting European Climate Policy. Brussels: European Commission.
• van Asselt, H., Mehling, M. and Brewer, T. (2009) Addressing leakage and competitiveness in US climate policy: issues concerning border adjustment measures. Cambridge: Climate Strategies.
• van Asselt, H., Berghuis, J., Biermann, F., Cornelisse, C., Haug, C., Gupta, J. and Massey, E. (2008) Exploring the socio-political dimensions of climate change mitigation. Analysis of post-2012 perceptions of China, India, South Africa, Brazil, Russia, Mexico and the United States. IVM Report (W-08/18). Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit.
• Gupta, J., van Asselt, H. and van Beukering, P. (eds.) (2007) Pilot projects in the climate change regime and sustainable development. IVM Report (R-07/01). Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit.