Library Guides: International Environmental Law: Databases

IEL platforms

Ecolex - the Gateway to Environmental Law
This open-access online database provides full-text access to treaties and environmental law cases in international courts, and an index to books and journal articles on international environmental law topics. It also includes domestic legislation and cases. The sophisticated search engine allows searching on multiple criteria.
ELAW
Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide. Open access online database developed by public interest advocates working in more than 80 countries.While designed for practitioners, the site provides access to notable environmental law decisions and Environmental Impact Assessment laws and regulations around the world.

GreenFILE (EBSCO)
GreenFILE offers information covering all aspects of human impact to the environment and is a collection of scholarly, government and general-interest titles that include content on global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more. The database provides indexing and abstracts for more than 384,000 records, as well as Open Access full text for more than 4,700 records.

For treaty-specific databases, refer to the Treaties page of this guide.

Climate change

Research bodies

International law

Sabin Center for Climate Change (Columbia Law School) - The Sabin Center is an affiliated center of the Columbia Climate School, and frequently collaborates with their scientists on cutting edge interdisciplinary research.

Domestic research intersecting with IEL

Australian and Pacific Climate Litigation - database records litigation (including settled cases and court orders) on issues of climate change in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance - established in 2014 as a research centre within the Department of Land Economy in the University of Cambridge to conduct integrative research on the governance of environmental transitions.
Melbourne Climate Futures - collates climate research, expertise, news and events and expertise from across the University of Melbourne.

Collections

Climate Change and Law Collection
This comprehensive collection of climate change and law documents contains original source, non-edited and non-redacted “grey literature” (non-peer reviewed) in English, centred on climate change and the law. It includes materials for any discipline of law in which climate change is addressed, including corporate law, environmental law and human rights law. Materials in the collection originate from a wide range of organisations in the public and private sector, institutions, and/or individuals, worldwide. The collection is edited by the Human Rights Internet (HRI) in Ottawa, Canada and it is updated annually.

Climate Change Laws of the world (Sabin Center for Climate Change)
Access to domestic legislation, policy statements, and directives issued by the governments of 177 countries. Can be searched by region or individual country via Advanced search (select 'search' from database's top right menu). Brought together by the Sabin Center for Climate Change (Columbia Law School) and the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.

Environment, Sustainability and Climate
Environment, Sustainability and Climate (HRES) is a curated selection from the broader Human Rights Documents Online database. This specialized subset of documents, sourced from Human Rights Internet (HRI) in Ottawa, Canada, emphasizes the significant work done by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) globally in these areas.

Global and U.S Climate Change Litigation Database (Sabin Center)
Global and U.S climate change case law (approx 25 countries). For many cases, links are available to decisions, complaints, and other case documents. Use top menu to search or browse cases by type of claim, jurisdiction or principal law. Managed by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia Law School.

CITES trade datasets and dashboards

The following databases are maintained by the UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) on behalf of the CITES Secretariat

The CITES Trade Database (CITES is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) contains information about trade-in CITES-listed wildlife and wildlife products since 1975. The database holds over 13 million records of trade and includes information such as the year of the shipment' the scientific name of the plant or animal, the type and quantity of the item being traded, their purpose and source, and the country of origin, export, and export. The full dataset can be downloaded, and there is detailed information on using the database. citesdb is an R package for analysing the full CITES Trade Database. See here for more information on downloading the data and using the R package.

CITES Contracting Parties provide annual reports to the Convention, including full details of all export and import permits and certificates issued during the previous year. The CITES Trade Data Dashboards are an interactive way to view the trade data submitted in these annual reports. The Global dashboard displays global trade trends, arranged by taxonomic group, and the National dashboard shows information by country.

For more global environment datasets and online tools, see the UN-WCMC Resources & Data website.

IEL civil society websites

FIELD (Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development) – Reports of FIELD projects, papers, annual reports, and books and other publications.

International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) - independent policy and action research organisation that provides access to research and analysis on sustainable development issues. Originally focused on the Global South, IIED Europe was launched in 2020 and explores the effect of EU policies and interventions on Majority World countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

International Law Association - Committee on International Law and Sea Level Rise

OECD Environment Directorate – Statistics, publications & documents, and information by country for topics in international environmental law.

UN Division for Sustainable Development (DSD) - Plays a key role in the evaluation of UN systemwide implementation of the 2030 Agenda and on advocacy and outreach activities relating to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Site includes details of the goals and their related thematic issues including water, energy, climate, oceans, urbanization, transport, science and technology. Also includes the Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR), partnerships and Small Island Developing States.

UNESCO Water Portal – Resources for international water law and links to news, events, and recent publications.

World Resources Institute – Resources for environmental law by research topic, data tables from EarthTrends, and other publications by research area of interest.

Other international environmental law research guides

A Basic Guide to International Environmental Legal Research (Globalex)

Researching International Marine Environmental Law (Globalex)

Sustainable Development Law (Globalex)

International Environmental Law Research Guide (Georgetown Law Library)