Bachelor of Laws (Honours), Bachelor of Sustainability and Climate Change

This is a five-year double degree that pairs a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) with a Bachelor of Sustainability and Climate Change. You graduate with two qualifications: an honours-level law degree and a science-and-policy degree focused on climate and sustainability. It's an unusual combination, and that's the point. Climate change is now a legal problem as much as a scientific one, carbon markets, environmental regulation, planning approvals, climate litigation, corporate disclosure. This degree trains you in both languages.

What you actually study

Law side: the subjects every Australian law graduate must complete, contract, torts, criminal law, property, constitutional law, administrative law, equity, evidence, civil procedure, corporations law. Then electives, and an honours research component in your later years. Sustainability side: climate science fundamentals, environmental policy, sustainability measurement and reporting, economics of climate change, and the governance frameworks that sit behind international climate agreements. The two halves feed each other. You'll read a case about native title and understand the ecology. You'll study emissions accounting and understand the regulatory teeth behind it.

How it's structured

Five years full time. Australian degrees run on semesters or trimesters, and you enrol in units of study, each carrying a set number of credit points. You need a set total of credit points to graduate, with rules about how many come from each half of the degree. There's an honours research component, a substantial piece of independent work in law. Work-integrated learning is built into the law side: placement in a community legal centre, a law firm, a government department or an industry legal team, plus the practical legal training or clinical work that counts toward admission. Confirm the exact unit list, credit point totals and placement requirements on the official course page.

Who it suits

Someone who wants to practise law but doesn't want to spend a career on contracts and conveyancing. Or someone who cares about climate policy but wants the legal training to actually change it. You need to be comfortable reading densely and writing precisely, and willing to handle both a statute and a data set. If you're the kind of person who reads a planning decision and a climate report in the same week, this fits.

Practical things to know

International students must meet the university's English requirement. For law, the published IELTS standard is typically 7.0–7.5 overall, higher than the general undergraduate band of 6.0–6.5. TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic, Cambridge C1 Advanced and the university's own English programmes are accepted as equivalents. The Department of Home Affairs sets a separate English threshold for the Student visa itself. While studying, a student visa allows 48 hours of work per fortnight. After graduating, the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) post-study work stream gives you time to work in Australia. Tuition is published on the CRICOS register, check there and on the official page for current figures. This is a law degree, so check the admission requirements for legal practice carefully: in Australia you need an approved degree plus practical legal training to be admitted.

• Solicitor or barrister, in firms, at the bar, or in community legal centres, with climate and environmental law as a specialisation.
• Environmental and planning lawyer, advising on development approvals, environmental impact assessment and native title.
• Climate policy adviser, in state and federal government departments, environment agencies and climate authorities.
• Sustainability consultant, helping companies measure emissions, set targets and report under Australian and international frameworks.
• Corporate governance and ESG analyst, in banks, insurers, superannuation funds and listed companies dealing with climate risk disclosure.
• Climate litigation researcher or advocate, in NGOs, think tanks and legal advocacy organisations.
• In-house counsel, for energy, resources, agribusiness and infrastructure organisations managing climate transition.
• Regulatory affairs specialist, in carbon markets, renewable energy and environmental compliance.

Australian industries hiring from this combination include legal services, government, energy and resources, environmental consulting, financial services, agriculture and the not-for-profit sector. The law degree, once you complete practical legal training, opens the door to admission as a legal practitioner in an Australian state or territory.