Earth System Law: Governing Planetary Transformations in the Anthropocene

Written by leading experts, this open access book provides the first comprehensive and critical exploration of Earth system law.

Environmental law, as it stands, does not meet the challenge of governing the many complex planetary transformations of the Anthropocene. Earth system law marks a new legal paradigm—replacing the fragmented, human-centred, state-based approach with an integrated, Earth-centred approach to planetary governance, purpose-built for our turbulent epoch.

The book offers innovative proposals for legal principles, actors, institutions, and ethics designed to safeguard the stability and integrity of Earth’s life-support systems. It also delivers the first full stocktake of the Earth system law framework and its scholarship, coupled with a forward-looking research and implementation agenda.

Earth System Law is for all those who are frustrated by the persistent inability of environmental law to address the interconnected governance challenges of the Anthropocene—and for those ready to help shape the next legal frontier. Researchers, students, practitioners, and policymakers alike will find here both the vision and the tools to rethink law for a human-dominated planet.

The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Bloomsbury Open Collections Library Collective.

• Publication date: 6 August 2026
• Page count: 344
• Dimensions: Height 234 mm; Width 156 mm
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Format: Hardback
• ISBN-13: 9781509994663