The Cambridge Seminar Series on Law and the Climate Crisis explores the vital role of legal systems in tackling one of the most pressing issues of our time.
As a polycentric problem, the causes and impacts of climate change implicate every sector of society. Accordingly, climate change – and the responses necessary to address the problem – involve a wide range of bodies of law. ‘Climate law’ therefore cannot be narrowly construed to be limited to only those rules that explicitly and predominantly seek to address the problem. Different fields of law, public and private, international and domestic, shape the legal response to the climate crisis.
Adopting this vantage point, the Cambridge Seminar Series on Law and the Climate Crisis, offers unique insights into the role of law and legal systems in response to one of the most urgent problems of our time. The series will bring together leading scholars and practitioners in their respective fields with a view to fostering a dialogue on how different bodies of law impinge on, or are affected by the physical impact of climate change and/or efforts to address the problem. The seminar series is open to undergraduate and postgraduate students and staff at the University of Cambridge, as well as other interested people.
The Cambridge Seminar Series on Law and the Climate Crisis is co-hosted by the Centre for Climate Engagement at Hughes Hall, Cambridge Zero, the Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance (C-EENRG) at the Department of Land Economy, the Cambridge Climate Society, the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, and the Cambridge University Law Society.
Booking
Preregistration (free of charge) is available by clicking on links below.
Michaelmas Term
- Friday 17 October 2025, 4pm
- Lord Robert Carnwath (Landmark Chambers/London School of Economics and Political Science) – Judges and Climate Change
- Friday 31 October 2025, 4pm
- Harj Narulla (Doughty Street Chambers) – Reparations and Climate Change
- Friday 7 November 2025, 4pm
- Professor Ernest Lim (National University of Singapore) – Corporate Law and Climate Change
- Friday 14 November 2025, 4pm
- Matthew Gingell (Oxygen House Group) – Contract Law and Climate Change
Lent Term
- Friday 6 February 2026, 4pm
- Dr Ekaterina Aristova (University of Surrey/University of Oxford) – Private International Law and Climate Change
- Friday 13 February 2026, 4pm
- Dr Hao Zhang (Chinese University of Hong Kong) – Energy Law and Climate Change Mitigation in China: Unlocking the Potential of Renewable Energy
- Friday 20 February 2026, 4pm
- Dr Pedro Schilling de Carvalho (University College London) – Financial Law and Climate Change
- Friday 27 February, 4pm
- Dr Franziska Arnold-Dwyer (University College London) – Insurance Law and Climate Change



