Legal Frontiers from PKU STL

This episode features a guest lecture by Alastair Marke, Director-General of the Blockchain & Climate Institute, on transnational AI regulation, comparing UK, EU, and Chinese frameworks. It discusses international standards, including through the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), as soft law bridging regulatory disparities and aligning with models for AI ethics, and examines case studies focusing on the ramifications of AI regulatory models on climate change AI applications, such as those related to weather prediction and management of smart grids.

DeepSeek has upended the global AI debate. In this episode, STL Associate Professor Gilad Abiri speaks with Stephen Minas to unpack what the release of the Chinese company’s R1 artificial intelligence model means for the future development of AI, the regulatory issues of open-source AI and tech competition between major economies.

This episode begins our “Welcome to STL” series, where we speak with new members of the STL faculty about their work & background. Assistant Professor Kevin Gray, who recently joined STL, is a transnational & constitutional law scholar with a background in philosophy. Here, he discusses his research agenda, including corruption in international arbitration, & upcoming courses at STL.

In part 2 of our interview, Peking University Law School Associate Professor Dai Xin discusses how to make use of data to improve market efficiency and government performance, digital platform regulation and the need to weigh transparency and privacy imperatives. The conversation also addresses the growing use of artificial intelligence in legal services, the impact of chatbots on access to justice and how AI-generated content will change legal scholarship and education.

Professor Ronán Long discusses the significance of the new international agreement under UNCLOS on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, including its potential to contribute to ocean governance and ecosystem restoration. Professor Long is Director of the WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute at the World Maritime University.

This episode features an interview with Asif Qureshi, Professor of Law at STL, on public international law in Northeast Asia and on law reform in national and international law, following the STL workshop on ‘Law Reforms Around the World’. Professor Qureshi also discusses the foundation and work of the Manchester Journal of International Economic Law.

This episode features a discussion on the book ‘Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Cleantech: A Pathway for Developing Countries’. The speakers are the book’s author, STL Associate Professor Joy Xiang, Rob Merges, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Professor of Law at UC Berkeley & Co-Founder, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, Richard Wilder, General Counsel for the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) & STL Associate Professor Stephen Minas. The panellists discuss the state of cleantech transfer & capacity-building for developing countries, innovation, the role of IP law and the experience of similar issues in the pandemic context. We gratefully acknowledge the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology which hosted the event and made the recording available for this podcast.

To meet the policy agenda of establishing an environmentally and climate-friendly energy system, several supporting mechanisms have been introduced under China’s Renewable Energy Law. A key feature of these mechanisms has been increased regulation and enforcement to ensure priority access of renewable energy to the grid, in pursuit of the goals to increase renewable share to 25% by 2030 and attain carbon neutrality by 2060. However, usage of electricity generated from renewables in China has been significantly curtailed, as such electricity is not adequately dispatched by grid operators. To address this, the electricity sector authorities have implemented several regulatory measures to facilitate renewable energy integration. In this episode, Dr Hao Zhang discusses these regulatory measures and their implementation. Dr Zhang is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he is the director of the LLM Programme in Energy and Environmental Law.

Agriculture, forestry and land use are responsible for approximately 23% of global GHG emissions that contribute to climate change, representing a bigger share than other important sectors such as transportation. At the same time, agriculture is one of the sectors already more affected by changing climatic conditions. Agriculture has been included in international instruments and negotiations under the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, but the translation of international targets to national policies and action is not without its challenges. This webinar explores interlinkages between agriculture and climate change, providing an overview of how international and national laws play a role in promoting more ‘climate-smart’ agriculture practices. Dr Fabiano de Andrade Correa is Lead Counsel on Peace, Justice and Governance with the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL) and teaches regularly in LUISS University’s Masters in Food Law, as well as guest lecturing at other universities.

In this episode, Dr Oriol Caudevilla discusses central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), how they are different to cryptocurrencies, the development of China’s digital yuan and its implications. Last April, the Chinese Government announced the starting of the tests of the country’s CBDC, DCEP (Digital Currency Electronic Payment) or Digital Yuan, in four major cities. In August, the Ministry of Commerce announced that a pilot run of the country’s CBDC would begin in several new areas, the Greater Bay Area among them, which includes Hong Kong and Macau. According to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) in early 2020, 80% of Central Banks in the world are currently working on CBDCs, but Asia seems to be the place where CBDCs arouse more interest. Dr Caudevilla is Chief Strategy Officer at ScallopX, Management Consultant at AirHelp and Advisor for a Hong Kong-based FinTech company, ixFintech, among other roles.

In the 2nd session of the STL Law & Sustainability Colloquium, Dr Nilüfer Oral discussed the existing frameworks in relation to protection of the marine environment under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and climate change under the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) regime. The discussion identified the gaps within each regime, the gaps between the two regimes and how synergies may be developed to address the important climate risks to the health of the ocean. Dr Oral is Director of the Centre of International Law (CIL) at the National University of Singapore and is a member of the UN International Law Commission and Co-chair of the Study Group on sea-level rise in relation to international law.

In the 1st STL Law & Sustainability Colloquium session, Christoph Schwarte reflected on how the pandemic may affect the international body of law related to climate change, and provided an overview on the specific challenges for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process. Christoph is executive director of Legal Response International (LRI) - a London based charity that provides free legal support to developing countries and civil society observer organisations in connection with the international climate change negotiations. The webinar was recorded on November 4th.