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School of Law

A Toolbox for the Effective Implementation of Climate Law

When: Thursday, April 18, 2024, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Where: CCLS, Room 3.1, Queen Mary, University of London, 69 Lincoln's Inn Fields London WC2A

Speaker: Nigel Pleming KC

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The British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) has produced a toolbox for all those involved in climate change litigation where there are private actors (oil, gas and coal companies etc)- NGOs, government bodies, local communities, the private actors themselves, other affected groups and individuals around the world, and those representing them. The tool box is part of a research project that analyses and compares best practices from 17 jurisdictions and provides recommendations to relevant stakeholders in order to facilitate continuous improvement in the implementation of climate change law, and speedier and more effective climate change litigation. The toolbox contains an inventory of substantive and procedural provisions relevant to climate change cases, to be used as legal models by policymakers and legal practitioners. It also acts as an authoritative reference point for judges and other adjudicators, leading to more consistent and informed climate change litigation decisions.


The toolbox has been developed by some of the most internationally renowned experts from around the world in the field of corporate climate litigation and related areas, drawn from science, the judiciary, legal practice, and academia including Nigel Pleming KC, Chair of the Core research group.

Nigel Pleming KC has a distinguished legal career spanning over 50 years. He has been recommended as a leading silk in the Legal 500 since 2000 in the specialties of Administrative and Public Law, Civil Liberties and Human Rights, Environment, Immigration and Value Added Tax. Nigel has been nominated by The Lawyer magazine for the Barrister of the Year award, and shortlisted for Public Law and Human Rights Barrister of the Year in the Chambers Bar Awards. He was awarded Environmental Law Silk of the Year in 2010 and Public Law Silk of the Year in the Legal 500 UK 2015 Awards. He was head of his chambers for three years. Nigel has been a Deputy Judge of the High Court and a Judge of the Courts of Appeal of Jersey and Guernsey. He is a barrister throughout his career at 39 Essex Chambers (formerly 2 Garden Court), a role taken up in 1973. He has a special interest in environmental law, and recently he acted with others for a coalition of residents, local authorities and green groups, including Greenpeace, in the well-known challenge to the Government's decision to authorise the building of a third runway and sixth terminal at Heathrow. Nigel has been involved in BIICL activity in the field of Environmental and Climate Change Law, putting his skills and passion to use for events and research. He authored the chapter on 'Climate Change Litigation in the United Kingdom' (with his colleague Ruth Keating) in the recently published BIICL-Brill edited volume on 'Climate Change Litigation: Global Perspectives'.

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