The Climate and Justice Group

The Climate and Justice Group brings together interdisciplinary expertise from across the humanities and natural sciences to develop knowledge and research into how law and regulation are shaping the struggle for climate justice.

Mission

We aim to increase cross-disciplinary and non-academic understanding of the significance of law to environmental challenges, facilitating connection between researchers, activists, legal scholars and practitioners.

Upcoming Events:

Upcoming lunchtime online seminars:

Tuesday 3 March, 12-1pm: Finlay Malcolm, ‘Christian Climate Activism: Hope, Prophecy and Sacrifice’
Tuesday 17 March, 12-1pm: Hannah Tubman, ‘Remining & Remediating: Visions of Lead Extraction in Kabwe, Zambia’, join here
Tuesday 21 April, 12-1pm: Petra Larsen, ‘Law Under Pressure: The Sudden Securitization of the Deep Seabed’, contact clare.cummings@manchester.ac.uk for link.
Tuesday 28 April, 12-1pm: Luis Bicalho, ‘Ecological Constitutions and Transnational Environmental Judicial Governance’, contact clare.cummings@manchester.ac.uk for link.

Projects

Environmental activism and legal strategies: building a supportive legal community for environmental campaigners in Manchester
AI and socio-legal strategies for sustainable and just futures: investigating the impact of AI on opportunities and challenges in socio-legal research and practice

Past Activities (2025)

Online Seminar series 2025:

30 January: Yusra Suedi (Law Department), "The Quest for Reparations in the International Climate Regime: Hopes and Hurdles"
14 February: Heather Alberro (SEED), ‘Terrestrial Ecotopias: Multispecies Flourishing in and Beyond the Capitalocene’
25 February: Erla Thrandardottir (Global Development Institute), 'International environmental NGOs and the struggle for local legitimacy?’
13 March: Xintong Cao (Tyndall Centre), 'Sourcing cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for a responsible net-zero transition: Incentives, risks and stakeholders'.
25 March: Judy Hofmeyer (Global Development Institute), 'Corporate grievance mechanisms and claims for Environmental Justice: a case study of platinum mining in South Africa’
29 April: Anahita Yousefi and Sherry Wang, Jupiter Lex and Clean Harvest [cleanharvest.org], ‘Using artificial intelligence models to identify corporate sustainability violations and gather data in support of climate-oriented litigation cases’.
22 October: Hannah Dickinson (UoM Geography), "Promising Blue Futures: Marine Biobanks and (regulating) the uptake of ocean life in Europe"
29 October: John O'Neill (UoM Philosophy), "Natural Capital and Biodiversity: Money, Markets and Offsets"
12 November: Hamsa Cardenas Moreno (University of Graz), "Making peace with Nature"
19 November: Simon Youel (Positive Money), "Macroeconomic Administration and the Environmental Green Transition"
26 November: Carolyn Abott (UoM Law) and Maria Lee (UCL), "Why Philanthropy Matters for (Environmental) Law Scholars"

Public Events:

24 March 2025: Lecture with Paul Clark, ‘Climate crimes and Human Rights’
11 June 2025: Environmental Activism and Legal Strategies workshop
6 October 2025: Lecture with Dr Amiera Sawas, ‘Why the world needs a Fossil Fuel Treaty: Building a Fast and Fair Transition’, Watch Event recording .

Blogs

University of Manchester Global Development Institute Blog: Climate Crimes and Human Rights: What Role for Courts? (28 March 2025)
University of Manchester Sustainable Consumption Institute Blog: Legal Frontlines in the Climate Crisis: Insights from the Environmental Activism Workshop (20 June 2025)
University of Manchester Sustainable Consumption Institute Blog: Why the world needs a Fossil Fuel Treaty: Building a Fast and Fair Transition (6 October 2025)
University of Manchester Sustainable Consumption Institute Blog: Building a Greater Manchester Legal Network for Environmental Campaigning (20 February 2026)

Social media

Instagram: @climatejusticeuom

Bluesky account: @climatejusticeuom.bsky.social

Linkedin group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13192050/

Contact

Dr Yusra Suedi (co-director), yusra.suedi@manchester.ac.uk

Dr Clare Cummings (co-director), clare.cummings@manchester.ac.uk