Dundee to host major climate conference

Published On Tue 27 Aug 2019 by Dominic Glasgow

Scotland will host world-leading experts in climate change law and science next month, as they attend a major conference on global climate at the University of Dundee.

Held at the University’s Dalhousie Building from 27-28 September, this inaugural event will focus on identifying elements of a global climate consensus and the legal practicality of effective climate action. 

Leading experts in the field including Australia’s ‘Green Judge’, Hon. Chief Justice Brian J Preston and Oxford’s climate expert Professor Friederike Otto are among those speaking during the weekend.

Professor Otto, lead scientist at the World Weather Attribution project and acting director of the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford, said, “This conference will be a crucial step to determine how the science of attribution can be utilised as a litigation tool.

“It is by enhancing conversations between lawyers, judges and scientists that we can open a new avenue to speed up the world into achieving the temperature target of the Paris Agreement.”

With experts from Australia, Germany, the United States, Singapore, and Ireland due to speak at the event, the conference organiser Dr Petra Minnerop, said she expects inspirational discussions to take place.

“Climate change is happening now and not only in a far-away future. We must take the science seriously if we want to play an active role as lawyers in preventing the worst-case scenarios for future generations,” she said.

“The conference will examine the current legal framework after the adoption of the Paris Agreement and the Katowice Climate Package, changing litigation strategies, the role of human rights law; and how the law may have to change to reflect where severe weather events are attributed to individual emitters.

“We hope that by bringing together experts from geoscience, climate science and law, we can clarify crucial concepts that have thus far stalled affirmative climate action. The scientific consensus must be tracked in law, to ensure our international and domestic laws are better equipped to tackle climate change.”

The Dundee Climate Conference takes place from 27-28 September at the University’s Dalhousie Building.

A full programme of speakers and panel sessions are available to view, while delegates can reserve places online.

The conference is free for students and non-student tickets cost £50.00.

For media enquiries contact:
Dominic Glasgow
Media Relations Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
Tel: +44 (0)1382 385131
Email: d.w.glasgow@dundee.ac.uk