Our Centre for Climate Law & Governance is playing a role in combating climate crisis

Every time we carry our shopping home in a reusable bag, catch an electric bus or read a headline about polluting companies being taken to court, we’re seeing climate law and governance in action. As we work towards a more sustainable future, this new era of green law and governance will have an ever-greater role to play in how we travel, work and live.

And King’s is playing a key role is this work…

Our Centre for Climate Law & Governance

Spearheading the legal and regulatory transformation necessary to sustain our planet is the Centre for Climate Law & Governance at King’s. Established in 2019, the Centre is a leading light internationally, focusing on how climate law and justice intersect with business, finance, corporate, and investment law and regulation.

The Centre brings together 15 academics, practitioners and PhD students who are shaping legislation, educating the next generation of climate-conscious leaders, facilitating global knowledge exchange and putting legal tools into the hands of changemakers.

Through its programme of research, education, engagement and advocacy, the Centre is enabling climate-friendly practices while preventing destruction to communities and habitats worldwide.

Below are just a few examples of the work the Centre is involved in.

Innovation for planet and people

Dr Duvic-Paoli examines the challenges posed by modern technologies

Emerging green technologies, like drone delivery fleets, offer new and exciting possibilities. But cities need support to anticipate and regulate their potential impacts, such as urban noise, energy consumption and effect on wellbeing.

Dr Leslie-Anne Duvic-Paoli’s research seeks to understand the challenges these new technologies might pose, and how we can regulate to reduce the risks. This pioneering project brings together King’s expertise in environmental law, robotics, urban informatics and noise pollution to establish a legal foundation for green technologies that benefit people as well as planet.

Mining that doesn’t cost the Earth

Dr Lopez’s research shows how to develop climate-friendly mining regulations

The exploration and extraction of critical minerals is an essential part of the global transition to more sustainable energy sources. Minerals like lithium are key components of green technologies such as electric car batteries. But how can we mine these resources while protecting the environment and local communities?

Dr Clara Lopez’s research shows how to develop climate-friendly mining regulations that balance environmental protection with international legal requirements. This work is helping not only to remove the obstacles to clean energy but also to enable it safely and sustainably.

Youth climate litigation

In 2023, Judge Kathy Seeley made a groundbreaking ruling in favour of 16 young people from Montana, USA, affirming their constitutional rights to a clean and healthy environment.

Professor Megan Bowman, Director of the Centre for Climate Law & Governance, published a leading report examining this decision and other key cases, alongside recommendations to strengthen and grow the youth climate litigation movement – meaning more young people can be empowered to take legal climate action than ever before.

Professor Bowman explains: ‘When thoughtfully designed and implemented, law can both accelerate positive environmental action and halt harmful practices, helping to protect the world in which we live. But, if we don’t maximise the potential of our legal and regulatory infrastructure as a lever for change soon, it will be too late.’

Navigating a more equitable and effective climate finance

‘Some 70 per cent of the world’s poor are women, and being poorer means you’re less likely to be able to afford to live in an area where you’re safe from flooding,’ says Phoebe

Phoebe Bower is a PhD student at the Centre for Climate Law & Governance. Her thesis examines how our changing climate is disproportionately impacting on marginalised people, and women in particular.

‘The climate crisis will affect us all, but it won’t affect us all in the same way,’ explains Phoebe. ‘Some 70 per cent of the world’s poor are women, and being poorer means you’re less likely to be able to afford to live in an area where you’re safe from flooding, to build a home that can withstand a hurricane, or to buy the medication you need in the aftermath of a climate event.

‘And we’re already seeing that women are disproportionately dying from extreme weather events like heatwaves.

‘Right now, climate finance is being framed as a disruptor of the climate crisis – with the power to tackle issues from environmental degradation to rising sea levels. But, for me, it can be so much more than that. If you have money, you can mitigate and adapt to climate change, and you can simultaneously move towards resolving and reducing gender inequality. On the one hand, it’s about making our societies more equal. On the other hand, it’s about efficient and effective use of money.’

The power of diversity

Phoebe continues: ‘At the Centre for Climate Law & Governance, everyone is welcome. Diversity is so important when you have problems as complex as the climate crisis, as you need to have diverse solutions. We need everyone to have an opportunity to be in academia if we want systemic change. Part of making that possible is funding to make these opportunities more accessible, but it’s also about carving out a safe, inclusive space for thought and action.

‘If you’d have told a younger version of me that one day I’d be studying for a PhD, I would never have believed it. I was the first person in my family to attend university and I didn’t follow the traditional route into a PhD.

‘Academia always felt out of reach, but King’s has challenged that feeling, providing a home for me to explore my academic interests and expand my horizons.'

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