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Centre for Sustainable Development Law and Policy
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From Durham to Santa Marta and Beyond

20 February 2026
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COP30 Elisa

This academic-practitioner conference is being organised by Professor Elisa Morgera (UN Special Rapporteur on Climate Change and Human Rights), the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Brazilian Special Envoy on Climate Change and Human Rights, Denise Dora on the theme of fossil fuel phase out. 

Join us in Durham, UK, to help prepare for the global conversations taking place at the Santa Marta First International Conference for the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels (28-29 April 2026, Colombia).

The "From Durham to Santa Marta and Beyond" conference seeks to bring together academics, UN experts, and civil society thought-leaders to explore and connect diverse areas of evidence and thinking on equitable pathways to defossilize our economies and effectively protect human rights, with a view to supporting key international processes on climate change, human rights and fossil fuels in 2026.

📅 19–20 March 2026

📍 Redhills Durham Miners Hall

🎓 Hosted by the Centre for Sustainable Development Law & Policy, Durham University

Organised by Professor Elisa Morgera (UN Special Rapporteur on Climate Change and Human Rights), the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Brazilian Special Envoy on Climate Change and Human Rights, Denise Dora, the conference will mainly include interactive workshop-like sessions with hybrid segments for remote participants to contribute evidence, questions and reflections.

The themes of the conference sessions are:

  • defossilization from the bottom-up
  • national pathways for the phase out
  • the economics of the phase out
  • links and tensions between fossil fuel phase-out and critical minerals
  • reform of international investment law / ISDS
  • links between fossil fuels and big tech (data centres, AI)

The methodology for the conference will entail:

  • workshopping sessions for all participants to co-develop knowledge, bringing together (but also constructively and generatively challenging) existing research based on their respective areas of expertise and understanding.
  • hybrid segments for remote participants to contribute evidence, questions and reflections
  • no presentations or papers as such, but rather sharing of key findings and “provocations” to support collective thinking

🔗 Register to attend - https://forms.office.com/e/HWgQi3Pqrk