Prof Dr Marjan Peeters (M.)
Marjan started studying environmental law in 1987. Since then, her research has focused on understanding how a high level of environmental protection can be effectively and efficiently achieved based on the rule of law and in the context of sustainable development. Her core research focuses on the legal aspects of climate change, regulatory instruments for reducing emissions, environmental procedural rights and how law deals with uncertain risks. She was appointed as professor of environmental policy and law in 2008.
Marjan has co-edited several books, among which the `Research Handbook on EU Environmental Law' (2020), co-edited with Mariolina Eliantonio, and `Climate Change Law' (2016), co-edited with Daniel A Farber. From September 2022 until August 2025 Marjan was a member of the Greendeal-NET project: GreenDealnet | Homepage | GreenDealnet.eu
In context of this, she coordinated the free lecture series "Strengthening EU environmental law: Legal perspectives on Greening Europe" Environmental Law Lecture Series - Events - Maastricht University
Marjan leads the courses “European Environmental Law” (master) and “Global Environmental Law" (master) at Maastricht University and co-supervises several PhD projects in the field of environmental law.
All publications by Marjan can be found here ( Dutch and English publications).
She is a member of Maastricht Centre of European Law and of the Ius Commune Research School, and several other organisations such as the European Environmental Law Forum.
Career history
Between 1993 and 2002 Marjan gained practical experience as environmental lawyer at the Dutch Ministry of Water Management and Transportation. Before that she conducted a PhD study at Tilburg University (The Netherlands, 1988-1992) which concerned one of the first legal analyses of emissions trading in Europe. This much-debated instrument has become one of the core instruments of EU climate law.
From 2008 to 2013 Marjan was member to the governing council of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law, in which she acted as the representative of member institutions in West Europe (www.iucnael.org). From 2009-2012 she was guest lecturer at the University of Liège, and from 2012-2014 she was International Guest Researcher at Leuphana University, Germany, where she contributed to the research project ENERGION which concentrates at the regional promotion of renewable energy, particularly storage of renewable electricity. Furthermore, from 2004-2010 she chaired the climate change working group of the Dutch Association of Environmental Law during which several conferences and books have been delivered.
From 2012 until 2022, Marjan was a member to the Maastricht Sustainability Institute (coordinating a master course on Sustainability and environmental law).