Tim fills the room with his knowledge

Tim Baxter at the Carlton Connect Initiative
yesterday - imposing knowledge.

Tim Baxter is not an imposing man, but his knowledge fills the room.

And just yesterday that room was the LAB-14 lecture theatre at the University of Melbourne’s Carlton Connect Initiative.

The researcher and teacher from university’s Melbourne Law School (MLS) discussed the topic “Are Commonwealth climate targets legally negligent? An Australian Urgenda”.

Tim's research interests are diverse but centre around climate change law, broadly construed to include corporate social responsibility, torts, planning law and administrative law, as well as the more traditional concern with United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change-led processes and domestic climate politics.

He is currently undertaking a thesis at the Melbourne Law School entitled “Justiciability and the environment – Challenging current conceptions of separation of powers in light of existential environmental threats” which is being supervised by Professor Lee Godden and Associate Professor Jason Varuhas.

Yesterday, he said that those eager to know more about the ideas behind his thesis should follow him on Twitter - @climatecaseAU.

Tim’s thesis seeks to unpack the legal hurdles which might prevent the Commonwealth being found liable in negligence for their insufficient efforts to mitigate climate change.

The thesis was inspired by the judgement of The Hague District Court in Urgenda Foundation v Netherlands.

As well as teaching into Corporate Law at MLS, Tim also teaches Planning and Urban Sustainability through the university’s Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning.