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CSDLP Blog
This blog engages with sustainability and climate change across disciplines including law, natural and social sciences, economics, finance and related fields reflecting the complexity of the environmental challenge. Contributors are encouraged to critically engage with the evolving discourse on climate change and sustainability by examining emerging legal and regulatory frameworks, assessing scientific developments, analysing economic and financing implications, or evaluating policy responses.
Editorial Team
CSDLP Blog
Scope 3 Emissions - A Step towards Corporate Climate Accountability? Assessing Notre Affaire à Tous & Ors v. TotalEnergies SE
In Notre Affaire à Tous & Ors v TotalEnergies SE, the court held that France’s duty of vigilance law covers climate risk and that TotalEnergies’ plan was deficient for omitting scope 3 emissions from the combustion of its products. It found these emissions within the company’s influence through its investment decisions but it refused to impose emissions reduction targets.
Contributors: Natalia Katolik, Zhang Yifan, Simeng Wang, & Adebola Adeyemi
Should Guyana Wait or Renegotiate? The Obsolescing Bargain Theory and Petroleum Contract Stability in an Era of Transition Risk
This article draws on the Obsolescing Bargain Theory to explain Guyana’s growing bargaining power under its 2016 petroleum agreement and argues that climate-related transition risks may narrow the opportunity for renegotiation, making a consensual adjustment potentially beneficial to both Guyana and its investors, By Mboka Noah Belondjo-Bonkunye, LLM Candidate in Corporate Law, Durham University
Greenwashing Under the Microscope: How Are Misleading Environmental Advertising Claims Regulated?
This piece argues that greenwashing now requires legal and regulatory intervention, and considers the CMA’s Green Claims Code as a step towards more transparent environmental advertising. By Ruby Flynn, 2nd year student, Liberal Arts, Durham University
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The Global Plastics Treaty: A Case for a Modest Beginning
This contribution examines why a global plastics treaty is required, why negotiations have stalled, and why even a relatively modest framework agreement would be worth having. By Yuting Zhang PhD Candidate, Durham Law School. As part of the CSDLP PhD/ECR Presentation series.
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Receding Glaciers, Advancing Law: Why “Best Available Science” Matters in Climate Litigation
A reflective piece on the Lliuya v. RWE case decided by the Higher Court of Appeal in Hamm, Germany on 28 May 2025.
By Petra Minnerop (Professor of International Law, Durham Law School) and Fredi E.L. Otto (Professor of Climate Science, Imperial College London)
Courts That Cannot Win: Environmental Justice and the Weight of History in South Africa
A Reflection on Justice Nambitha Dambuza’s Lecture Delivered as part of the JusTNow Initiative’s New Frontiers in Environmental Adjudication Series, Durham Law School, 9 June 2026.
By Simeng Wang, PhD candidate, Durham Law School
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