Durham is home to world-leading research that helps to address the challenges of an ever-changing and complex world – and inspires the next generation of problem-solvers.
We have been directly involved in Conferences of Parties (COPs) since 2021 under the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Even before then, our researchers were actively engaged in important research and projects on climate change.
This year, we are sending seven delegates to the Conference of Parties in Belém, Brazil.
Image from left to right: Professor Petra Minnerop, Professor Chris Stokes, Professor Laura Marsiliani, Professor Elisa Morgera, Dr Owen Boyle, Ghulam Mustafa Kamran, Zonash Aasim.
Petra Minnerop is a Professor of International Law in our Law School. She is also the Director of the Centre for Sustainable Development Law and Policy and serves as Chair of Durham University’s UN SDG Group.
Her research spans international law, the process of law-making and the implementation of international law at the domestic level, with a particular focus on environmental challenges and climate change.
Chris Stokes is a Professor in our Department of Geography. His research focusses on the response of glaciers to climate change and the impacts on sea level.
Most recently, Chris’ work has examined the sensitivity of the ice sheets to specific temperature targets, such as those in the Paris Climate Agreement.
His activities at COP30 will focus on explaining the increasing threat of rapid and irreversible sea level rise, especially if the 1.5 °C temperature target is exceeded.
Laura Marsiliani is an economist active in the fields of public, environmental, natural resource and energy economics.
She is currently a Professor of Economics, Faculty of Business Associate Dean for Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability (ERS), Fellow of the Durham Energy Institute and Centre for Sustainable Development, Law and Policy and Co-Director of the Centre for Environmental and Energy Economics at Durham University Business School.
She is a principal investigator of the Durham University Strategic Research Fund initiative JusTN0W (Just Transition to a Net Zero World).
Elisa Morgera is a Professor of International Law and Sustainability at Durham University.
Elisa is also an Adjunct Professor in International and European Union Environmental Law at the University of Eastern Finland.
She has published extensively on human rights and the environment, the human right to science, as well as the human rights of small-scale fishers, Indigenous Peoples, and children, at the climate-biodiversity and climate-ocean nexus.
Owen Boyle is the Project Manager on the JusTN0W Project. He has a background in international human rights law and international development.
He has worked in academia, in the private sector and for international organisations such as the United Nations and the Red Cross.
At COP30, Owen will work with colleagues from Durham’s Centre for Sustainable Development Law and Policy in examine how science and evidence inform climate policy during negotiations.
Ghulam Mustafa Kamran is a Postgraduate Research associate at the Durham Centre for Sustainable Development Law and Policy and is a member of the Durham University COP Steering Group.
He is a PhD Candidate at Durham Law School, focusing on the centralisation of human dignity, in the global efforts to regulate AI, and to promote human-centred and planet-centred use of AI.
Mustafa is actively involved in Durham University's engagements around the achievement of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Zonash Aasim is a Business and Management undergraduate at Durham University, currently serving as President of Enactus Durham. She is also part of the Advisory Board at the Durham Energy Institute, where she contributes to discussions around sustainability and energy innovation.
With a strong interest in climate policy and youth engagement, Zonash works closely with Pakistan’s Ministry of Climate Change on initiatives aimed at building climate resilience and promoting sustainable growth. She’s passionate about connecting ideas across academia, policy, and community action, and will be representing Durham University at COP30 in Belém, Brazil.
Earlier this year a study led by Professor Chris Stokes, in our Department of Geography, found that efforts to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5°C under the Paris Climate Agreement may not go far enough to save the world’s ice sheets.
1.5°C target too high for polar ice sheets and sea level rise - Durham University
A panel discussion based on the first GST evidence uptake in NDCs 3.0 and exploring pathways for their implementation, considering the best available science through integrated and holistic approaches that prioritise gender responsiveness and just transition plans.
Main image: An evergreen forest in Banten, Indonesia. Credit: Tom Fisk, Pexels.
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