This essay reflects lectures delivered at the Helsinki Summer Seminar on International Law, which in 2008 focused on the topic International Law, the Environment and Power. It addresses three topics. First, it considers the implications of its title ‘global environmental law’ as well the challenges that global environmental law has to contend with. Thereafter, the manner in which global environmental law addresses these challenges will be reflected on by discussing relevant legal principles. This discussion provides insight into the discourse of and the various interests that play a role in global environmental law. Subsequently, the institutional framework established for the development and implementation of global environmental law will be addressed. This section of the essay provides insight into the decision-making processes and procedures through which the discourse of global environmental law unfolds. It focuses on a particular point, namely the relationship between developing and developed states. I chose this focus as it is the South-North context that saliently illustrates the role of power in global environmental law. Finally, and by way of conclusions, I will briefly address global environmental law as a system of governance that seeks to address common interest problems. I will conclude that there is a mismatch between the promise of justice for developing states, reflected in relevant principles of global environmental law, and the institutional structure in which the World Bank, and thus developed states, play a dominant role.