Neil Craik is a Professor of Law at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, University of Waterloo, where he teaches and researches in the fields of international and Canadian environmental law. His current research examines the legal structure of global commons regimes, with particular interests in climate and geoengineering law and governance, deep seabed mining regulation and environmental impact assessment. He is the co-author of Liability for Environmental Harm to the Global Commons (Cambridge University press, 2023), and The International Law of Environmental Impact Assessment (Cambridge University Press, 2008). His work has been published in leading international law journals, such as International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Transnational Environmental Law and the Chicago Journal of International Law, as well as interdisciplinary journals, including Science, Marine Policy and NPJ Ocean Sustainability. From 2011 to 2017, and from 2022-24, Professor Craik served as the Director of the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development at the University of Waterloo.
Neil Craik
Professor of Law, School of Environment, Enterprise and Development (SEED)
Faculty
Faculty
RESEARCH CLUSTER
RESEARCH CLUSTER
Neil Craik
Professor of Law, School of Environment, Enterprise and Development (SEED)
Awards
- 2024, Canadian Council on International Law, Scholarly Book Award (for Liability for Environmental Harm to the Global Commons)
- 2023, Outstanding Performance Award (University of Waterloo)
- 2014, Outstanding Performance Award (University of Waterloo)
- 2012, Merit Award (University of Waterloo)
- 2010-2011, Econoving Global Fellow, (Université de Versailles Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines, France)
- 2007, Harrison McCain Foundation Young Scholar Award (University of New Brunswick)
Select Publications
- Liability for Environmental Harm to the Global Commons (Cambridge University Press) (50%, with T. Davenport and R. Mackenzie), 287 pages (monograph)
- Global Environmental Change and Innovation in International Law, (Cambridge University Press). (Co-editor with C. Jefferies, S. Seck and T. Stephens), 341 pages
- Climate Change Policy in North America: Designing Integration in a Regional System, (University of Toronto Press, 2013), (Co-editor with VanNijnatten & Studer), 369 pages
- The International Law of Environmental Impact Assessment: Process, Substance and Integration, (Cambridge University Press, 2008), 350 pages (monograph)
- Tracey, Hope Elizabeth, and Neil Craik. “Assessing Antarctic Marine Bioprospecting Governance in the Light of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement: Competence, Comprehensiveness, and Coherence.” Transnational Environmental Law (2026): 1-38
- Lidström, Susanna, Neil Craik, Joan M. Alfaro-Lucas, Diva J. Amon, Narissa Bax, Ana Colaço, Bobbi-Jo Dobush et al. “Deep differences: expanding the marine social sciences and humanities into the deep ocean.” npj Ocean Sustainability 5, no. 1 (2026): 24.
- Craik, Neil, and Karen N. Scott. “Environmental Impact Assessment Under the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement and the Equivalence Exception.” The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law 41, no. 2 (2026): 244-288.
- Craik, Neil, Julian Jackson, Aline Jaeckel, Hannah Lily, Pradeep Singh, and Hope Tracey. “The International Seabed Authority, the problem of disregard and the case for administrative accountability.” International & Comparative Law Quarterly 74, no. S1 (2025): 267-289
- Gullett, Warwick, and Neil Craik. “Precautionary Environmental Impact Assessments under the BBNJ Agreement: More than a Minor or Transitory Effect on the Marine Environment?.” Ocean Development & International Law (2025): 1-29
- Motlaghzadeh, Kasra, Neil Craik, Juan Moreno-Cruz, Vanessa Schweizer, Jay Fuhrman, and Keith W. Hipel. “Applying equity principles leads to higher carbon removal obligations in Canada.” Communications Earth & Environment 6, no. 1 (2025): 88.
- Craik, Neil. “Equitable marine carbon dioxide removal: the legal basis for interstate benefit-sharing.” Climate Policy(2025): 1-15.
- Levin, Lisa A., Joan M. Alfaro-Lucas, Ana Colaço, Erik E. Cordes, Neil Craik, Roberto Danovaro, Henk-Jan Hoving et al. “Deep-sea impacts of climate interventions.” Science 379, no. 6636 (2023): 978-981.
- Craik, Neil, Anna-Maria Hubert, and Chelsea Daku. “The legal framework for carbon dioxide removal in Canada.” Alberta Law Review 59, no. 4 (2022): 833-70
- Craik, Neil. “The duty to cooperate in international environmental law: Constraining state discretion through due respect.” Yearbook of International Environmental Law 30, no. 1 (2019): 22-44.
- Craik, Neil. “The duty to cooperate in the customary law of environmental impact assessment.” International & Comparative Law Quarterly 69, no. 1 (2020): 239-259.
- Craik, Alastair Neil, and William CG Burns. “Climate engineering under the Paris Agreement.” Environmental Law Reporter 43, no. 12 (2019).
Education
- SJD, University of Toronto, Faculty of Law
- LL.M., University of Edinburgh
- LL.B., Dalhousie Law School
- B.A., McGill University