Oliver C. Ruppel

Head of the Research Centre for Climate Change Law (Clim:Law) at the Institute for Public Law and Political Science at the Faculty of Law of the University of Graz. Since 2011, he has been a full professor of public and international law at the Faculty of Law at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, where he also heads the Development and the Rule of Law Programme.

Ruppel is, among other things Principal Investigator at the field of excellence Climate Change Graz of the University of Graz, member of the Climate Protection Law working group of the Climate Change Centre Austria (CCCA) climate research network, Distinguished Fellow of the Fraunhofer Centre for International Management and Knowledge Economy (IMW), Leipzig, Germany, Honorary Professor at Strathmore Law School, Nairobi, Kenya, the Catholic University of Central Africa, Yaoundé, Cameroon, the European Law Faculty, Ljubljana, Slovenia, and Xiangtan University, China.

His research focuses on public and international law as well as comparative law (global North and South). A particular focus is on sustainability law and the interfaces of international and national environmental and climate protection law with human rights, world trade law and the law of international organisations.

Bild von Oliver Ruppel

Affiliations and Positions Held

He is an International Arbitrator (FA Arb) with the Association of Arbitrators of Southern Africa; member of the World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL) of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), member of the Wildlife Justice Commission, The Hague, Netherlands, member of the Environment, Health and Safety Law Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA), member of the Global Strategic Litigation Council (GSLC) for Refugee Rights at the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility, Cornell Law School, USA, member in the advisory board of the Montevideo Programme for Environmental Law at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Nairobi, Kenja, member of the working group on soil law, Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), Rom, Italy, member of the Consortium for Geopolitical Studies of the Sahel, Cornell University, USA, member of the Swiss (SVIR) and South African (SABILA) International Law Associations, and honorary member of the Cameroon Academy of Sciences, Yaoundé, Cameroon.

He was coordinating lead author of the fifth IPCC Assessment Report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, founding director of the Climate Change and Energy Security Programme for Sub-Saharan Africa of the German Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS), founding holder of one of fourteen WTO Chairs of the World Trade Organisation worldwide at the University of Namibia, Windhoek, and former director of the National Human Rights and Documentation Centre of Namibia, under the University of Namibia and the Namibian Ministry of Justice.

Ruppel is co-editor of the publication series ‘Climate Change Law and Governance’, Nomos Publishers, member of the editorial board of the journal ‘Environmental Policy and Law’, IOS Press, member of the scientific advisory board of the journal ‘Soil Security’, Elsevier, co-editor of the publication series ‘International Yearbook on Soil Law and Policy’, Springer, co-editor of the publication series ‘Law and Constitution in Africa’, Nomos Publishers.

Selected Publications

Books/Publications

  • Ginzky, H, De Andrade Corrêa, F, Dooley, E, Heuser, IL, Kameri-Mbote, P, Kibugi, R, Ruppel, OC (Eds) (2024) International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy, Vol. 6. Springer, Cham, 331pp, Open Access (Englisch).
  • Fischer, EV (2024) Kausalität im Klimaschutz: Zur Individualzurechnung von Klimafolgen an Unternehmen. In: Ruppel, OC, Schulev-Steindl, E, Markus, Müllerova, H (2024) Schriftenreihe Climate Change Law and Governance | Droit et Gouvernance du Changement Climatique | Klimaschutzrecht und Governance. Vol. 2, Nomos Verlag, Baden-Baden, 387pp (Deutsch).
  • Schnedl, G, Ruppel, OC, Hofer, M (eds) (2024) Bodenschutz im Zeichen der Klimakrise: Rechtliche Rahmenbedingungen, politische Herausforderungen und Konfliktpotentiale. Verlag Österreich, 226pp (Deutsch).
  • Schulev-Steindl, E, Hinteregger, M, Kirchengast, G, Meyer, L, Ruppel, OC, Schnedl, G, Steininger K (eds) (2022) Climate Change, Responsibility and Liability. Climate Change Law and Governance, Vol. 1, Nomos, Baden-Baden, 525pp Open Access (Englisch).
  • Ruppel, OC, Ruppel-Schlichting, K (eds) (2022) Environmental Law and Policy in Namibia – Towards Making Africa the Tree of Life. Fourth Fully Revised Edition. Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung, Windhoek & Law and Constitution in Africa, Vol. 43, Nomos, Baden-Baden, 670pp Open Access (Englisch).
  • Schulev-Steindl, E, Ruppel OC, Kerschner, F (eds) (2021) Climate Law - Current Opportunities and Challenges: Essays from the Official Opening of ClimLaw: Graz. Series on Legal Perspectives on Global Challenges, Vol. 6, Eleven International Publishing, The Hague, 157pp Open Access (Englisch).
  • Kameri-Mbote, P, Paterson, A, Ruppel, OC, Orubebe, BB, Kam Yogo, ED (eds) (2019) Law | Environment | Africa. Recht und Verfassung in Afrika, Bd. 38, Nomos, Baden-Baden. 717pp. (Englisch).
  • Ruppel, OC, Scherr, KM, Berndt, AD (eds) (2017) Assessing Progress in the Implementation of Zimbabwe’s New Constitution. National, Regional and Global Perspectives. Recht und Verfassung in Afrika, Bd. 32, Nomos, Baden-Baden. 440pp. (Englisch).
  • Ruppel, OC, Althusmann, B (eds) (2016) Perspectives on Energy Security and Renewable Energies in Sub-Saharan Africa – Practical Opportunities and Regulatory Challenges. Second Revised and Expanded Edition. MacMillan Education Namibia. 354pp. (Englisch).
  • Ruppel, OC, Roschmann, C, Ruppel-Schlichting, K (eds) (2013) Climate Change: International Law and Global Governance, Volume I: Legal Responses and Global Responsibility, 1016pp; Volume II: Policy, Diplomacy and Governance in a Changing Environment. Nomos Law Publishers, Baden-Baden. 926pp. (Englisch).

Journals

  • Ruppel, OC, Murray, R (2024) A Global Comparative Constitutional Analysis of Natural Resources Protection, Vienna Journal on International Constitutional Law (ICL), Vol. 18, 255-310 (Englisch).
  • Ruppel, OC, Katoole, SM (2023) A Regulatory Green Hydrogen Framework for Namibia: Promoting Sustainable Development Through Renewable Energy? Graz Law Working Paper Series No. 14-2023 (Englisch).
  • Ruppel, OC, Schulev-Steindl, E, Wallner, J (2023) 基于欧洲视角的战略性气候诉 (Strategic Climate Litigation on the Rise: An Overview from a European Perspective). Huxiang Law Review, Vol. 3, No.4, 124-138 (Chinesisch mit englischer Überseztzung).
  • Müllerová, H, Balounová, E, Ruppel, OC, Houston, LJ (2023) Building the concept of just transition in law, Environmental Policy and Law, vol. 53, 275-288 (Englisch).
  • Ruppel, OC, Houston, LJ (2023) The Human Right to Public Participation in Environmental Decision-making: Some Legal Reflections, Environmental Policy and Law, vol. 53, 125-138 (Englisch).
  • Ginzky, H, Ruppel, OC (2022) Experimentierfreude, Innovation und Nachsteuerung durch „transformatives“ Recht? Zeitschrift für Umweltrecht (ZUR), Vol. 9/2022, 449-450 (Deutsch).
  • Ruppel, OC, Dobers, C (2022) The Paris Agreement: A Symbiosis for the Protection of Human Rights and Climate Change? In: UNFCCC@30: Climate Change. Environmental Policy and Law, Vol. 52 No. 5-6, 399–409 (Englisch).
  • Houston, L-J, Ruppel, OC (2022). Just Energy Transitions in Progress? The Partnership between South Africa and the EU, Journal for European Environmental & Planning Law, 19(1-2), 31–54 (Englisch).
  • Ruppel, OC (2021) Soil Protection and the Right to Food for a Better Common Future. International Journal of Environmental Policy and Law – Vol. 51, issue 1-2, 57 – 73. (Englisch).
  • Ruppel, OC, Junger, GW, Knutton, KM (2020) Der Klimawandel in der Governance, Gesetzgebung und Rechtsprechung Südafrikas: Ein Überblick über die jüngsten Entwicklungen. Zeitschrift für Umweltrecht (ZUR) 2020, Nr. 5, 273-279 (Deutsch).
  • Ruppel, OC, Shifotoka, F (2016) Foreign Direct Investment Protection in Africa – Contemporary Legal Aspects between bits and BRICS. African Yearbook of International Law. Vol. 21, Issue 1, 5-56. (Englisch).

Contribution to an edited book

  • Garofalo, C, Ruppel, OC (2024) Strategic cllimate change litigatiion in the Global South: Selected reflections from Brazil and South Africa. In: Weber, T (2024) Sammelband Strategische Prozessführung in Österreich. Legal Series on Strategic Litigation, vol. 3. Nomos Verlag, Baden-Baden, 59-96 (Englisch).
  • Ruppel, OC, Murray, R (2023) Natural Resources. In: Max Planck Encyclopaedia of International Law. Oxford University Press (Englisch).
  • Ruppel, OC (2022) Ein Marschallplan fürs Klima: Neue Europa-Afrika-Partnerschaft und die Rolle des transformativen Rechts in Zeiten der Krise. In: Hoesele, H, Wieser, L (Eds) Green Europe. Deal of no deal? Jubilee Edition Geist & Gegenwart, 10. Pfingstdialog Steiermark, Wieser Publishers, Klagenfurt, 123–135 (Deutsch).
  • Ruppel, OC (2022) Climate Change, Responsibility and Liability in South Africa: The legal system, public and private law considerations. In: Hinteregger, M, Kirchengast, G, Meyer, L, Schnedl, G, Schulev-Steindl, E, Steininger K (Eds) Climate Change, Responsibility and Liability. Nomos, Baden-Baden, 201-278 (Englisch).
  • Ruppel, OC (2021) International Trade Law and the Environment. In: Glazewski, J (Ed) Environmental Law in South Africa, Issue 9, LexisNexis South Africa, 4-1 – 4-48 (Englisch).
  • Ruppel, OC (2018) Aspects of International Climate Change Law and Policy from an African Perspective. In: Ruppel, OC, Kam Yogo, ED (eds) Environmental law and policy in Cameroon - Towards making Africa the tree of life. Recht und Verfassung in Afrika, Bd. 37, Nomos, Baden-Baden, 667-686. (Englisch).
  • Ruppel, OC (2017) Constitutionalism and Constitutional Reform: Selected Aspects from a Regional Perspective. In: Ruppel, OC, Scherr, KM, Berndt, AD (eds) Assessing Progress in the Implementation of Zimbabwe’s New Constitution. National, Regional and Global Perspectives. Recht und Verfassung in Afrika, Bd. 32, Nomos, Baden-Baden, 51-83. (Englisch).
  • Ruppel, OC (2017) Mudanças Climáticas e Pessoas Deslocadas por Eventos Ambientais Permanentes e de Início Lento (Slow-Onset): uma Perspectiva do Direito Internacional. In: Jubilut, LL, Fernandes Rei, FC, Soldano Garcez, G (eds) Humanos e Meio Ambiente: Minorias Ambientais "Coleção Ambiental". Arlindo Philippi Jr. (Coord) Manole, 165-201. (Portugiesisch).
  • IPCC (2014) Summary for policymakers. In: Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, 1-32 (Englisch und weitere 5 offizielle Sprachen der VN).

Further Publications can be found on the research portal of the University of Graz.

Selected Projects

  • Carbon Neutral Schools - The main focus of the project is to show schools and vocational colleges what can be done to reduce carbon emissions. Erasmus+. 2022-2025.
  • JUSTDECARD - A Knowledge Base and Toolkit for Policymakers. The transition to a decarbonized Europe entails profound societal and social upheavals. The project examines which groups will be negatively affected by these changes and at the same time shows how the path to a climate-friendly future can also be shaped in a socially just way. The aim is to build up knowledge in this area and develop a "toolkit for decision-makers". This is to be designed on the basis of interdisciplinary findings and with the involvement of civil society and provide a framework for a fair climate policy including redistribution measures. FFG-Project. 2020-2023.

Faculty of Law
RESOWI, Universitätsstraße 15/AE, 8010 Graz

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