Staff profile

Professor Petra Minnerop works at the intersection of law and science in the context of sustainability, climate change and environmental degradation. Her research addresses how the law can be used to effectuate change in light of scientific evidence, to address global environmental crises. She uses comparative legal analysis and interdisciplinary methods and has published widely on climate change, environmental law and policy and international law.

In her administrative role at Durham University, she serves as the Chair of the UN SDG Group of the University, with responsibility for the University's reporting on Sustainability (QS) and the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (THE Impact ranking) in the academic dimension. She leads on the University's engagement with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). She currently also serves as the Deputy Executive Dean (Global) of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Health. 

Petra is the founding Director of the Durham Centre for Sustainable Development Law and Policy (CSDLP).

She is the lead PI on the flagship initiative of the CSDLP: the Just Transitions to a Net Zero World (JusTN0W) project that received investment of £5 million for the next four years, with the aim of becoming financially sustainable thereafter. 

Prior to joining Durham Law School, Petra has held academic positions at the Universities of Dundee, Munich and Göttingen, and worked as Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, and at the Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law, Heidelberg. She is a member of the Bar in Germany. 

She studied at the Universities of Göttingen and Newcastle-upon-Tyne and completed her Dr. iur. under the supervision of Professor Dr Georg Nolte (summa cum laude), awarded with the prize for the best PhD thesis of the University of Göttingen.

Petra worked for the German Foreign Office, Berlin, and for the Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations, New York. She serves as a member of the editorial boards of the book series Global Energy Law and Policy (Hart publishing) and the Journal Global Energy Law and Sustainability (Edinburgh University Press). She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Petra is a member of the World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL), of the Specialist Group on Climate Change and a member of Society of Legal Scholars, the Women’s Climate and Energy Law Network, the European Society of International Law and the American Society of International Law. 

Petra is the founder of the International Research Advisory Board (IRAB) that provides needs-based and research-led capacity building for partner countries in the Global South on the basis of trans-disciplinary research and academic partnerships.

Research Expertise

Petra has published widely on liability in international environmental law, climate protection agreements, human rights law, the classification/status of states under international law and on EU citizenship. Her current interdisciplinary research project on Just Transitions to a Net Zero World (JusTN0W) focuses on the role of international law in directing and managing interdisciplinary solutions to accelerate the decarbonisation of economies. She also works on re-thinking and applying legal concepts in the light of attribution science, including health.

She is also working on issues of citizenship and belonging from the perspective of international law, in the context of mitigating the consequences of ‘Brexit’ , as one of the co-editors of the book on EU Citizenship as institutionalised Membership, under contract with Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2025. With Justice Brian Preston and Volker Roeben, Petra is working on a book under contract with Cambridge University Press on Solidarity in international law (forthcoming 2025).

Selected Grants

 

January 2025-January 2029: Principle Investigator, Just Transtions to a Net Zero World (JusTN0W), SRF funding from Durham University's Strategic Research Fund, total cost £4.6 million

May 2022-March 2023: Principle Investigator, Sustainable Development Research Centre and UNFCCC engagement activities, funded by Strategic Priorities Fund (SPF), (£66,619.21)

September 2021- May 2022: Principal Investigator for Legal Support for Enhancing Ambition under the Paris Agreement, funded by the Rockefeler Foundation & Energy Transition Council (£61,644.75)

2021: Principal Investigator for ESRC IAA funded grant on Building Capacity to Enhancing Compliance with (domestic legal) Implementation of the Paris Agreement (£14,656.64).

2021 Principal Investigator for Durham Climate Conference (2021), funded by the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) (with Prof Colin T. Reid, Prof Nilufer Oral, Hon. Justice Brian Preston, Prof Volker Roeben, Prof Andy Haines, Prof Friederike E.L. Otto, Prof Cinnamon Carlarne), conference on Challenges to a Sustainable Recovery: International Law, Climate Change and Public Health (£3,000).  Additional Funding: GPI and Law School, each £400.

2021: Co-Investigator, The Extractives Hub and International Research Advisory Board, Royal Society of Edinburgh (£12,613).

2019: Principal investigator of Dundee Climate Conference with integrated master class on Elements of a “European”, “International”, “Global” Climate Consensus after Paris?, funded by the SLS, links to media coverage here and here.

2019: Additional Funding from Research and Innovation Services, University of Dundee for Dundee Climate Conference

2019: Research Fellow, funded by the European Commission (£2,000) Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg

2018: Co-Investigator, Workshop on Union Citizenship in the time of Brexit, co-funded by the European Parliament and the Morgan Academy, Swansea (£10,000).

2016-2017: Co-Investigator, European Parliament, project on The Feasibility of Associate Union Citizenship post-Brexit (£15,000).

Presentations

2023: Causation, Attribution and Litigation, presentation at the Centre for International Law, National University of Singapore, webinar on 'Decoding the IPCC for Lawyers' link to the recording: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18X3uHjYbrRq7cXxpaVlABNpVMOc4Ta8c/view

2023: Implications of the ECtHR's Jurisprudence for National Law: Germany, presentation at the Sabin Centre for Climate Change Law, webinar on 'The Climate Docket at the European Court of Human Rights', link to the recording: https://lnkd.in/eMSWcCNh

2022: The Global Stocktake as Process: Inputs and Outputs and Ambition, presentation for 2nd Workshop, Series of workshops co-organised with CIL/NUS and supported by the UNFCCC secretariat, see link here: https://www.durham.ac.uk/research/institutes-and-centres/csdlp/news-and-events/events/?day=07&month=10&year=2022&search=day&past=1 

2022: German Climate Summit, Hamburg, ExtremWetterKongress, EinklagbareKlimaziele, Klimafolgenhaftung und Versicherungsrecht, presentation on Kausalität und Zurechnung in Klimawissenschaft und Klimarecht, see link here https://boettcher.science/ewk2022 

2022: From International Law on Climate Change to Power Purchase Agreements, presentation at Lao PDR 1st Energy Modelling Workshop, with FCDO and Lao PDR government

2022: CIL (NUS) - UNFCCC Worskhop - What did COP26 mean for the Asia Pacific Region and what to expect next? Moderation (Global Stockake) link to the programme:https://cil.nus.edu.sg/event/cil-unfccc-workshop-on-what-did-cop-26-mean-for-the-asia-pacific-region-and-what-to-expect-next/

2022: General Causation, Specific Causation and Attribution in the context of Climate Change (Litigation), Lecture, Universitas Diponegoro, Indonesia

2022: Normative Dimensions of Attribution Science and the Law, University of Graz/University of Fribourg

2022: Environmental Law Conference 2022, organised by Student Societies: DUELS (Durham), NUS Bachelor of Environmental Studies, Westminster Environmental Society, Execter Be the Change, KCL Environmental Law & Regulation Society, Cambridge Envirionmental Consulting Society

2021: Distinguished Speakers Address, ACCEL 2021, Sydney Law School https://law-events.sydney.edu.au/events/accel-2021-distinguished-speaker-address-can-climate-litigation-save-the-planet-the-role-of-climate-attribution-science see the podcast at https://www.sydney.edu.au/law/news-and-events/podcasts.html

2021: Convener of post-COP26 roundtable (final part of the preparatory Lecture Series on the Road to COP26) with Prof Oral (UN ILC, Director of CIL/NUS) and Prof Voigt (Co-Chair of the Paris Agreement Implementation and Compliance Committee, Chair of IUCN WCEL): After COP, Before COP https://www.durham.ac.uk/research/institutes-and-centres/global-policy/about-us/events/after-cop-before-cop-/

2021: Climate Risk Summit, COP26 Universities Network, Presentation on 'Attributon Sciene in the Law' during the Opening Panel on 'Risks and Attribution of Extremes'

2021: Global Climate and Health Alliance: Care4Climate Webinar, presentation on 'Health and Climate Change as Legal & Economic Issues'

2021: Presentation to Plenary during the SLS Annual Conference, on 'Law Schools in the context of climate change and pandemics'. 

2021: ClimateExpo (COP 26 Universities Network Conference) ‘Defining success at COP26 / CMA 3 and wrapping up outstanding issues of the Paris Rulebook’

2021: The Paris Agreement Rulebook: Adding the Glasgow Chapter to the Katowice Climate Package’, Road to COP 26 Preparatory Lecture Series (co-organised by Nilufer Oral CIL/NUS, Petra Minnerop Durham Law School and Christina Voigt IUCN/WCEL) 

2021: Presentation on 'Regional and Legal Perspectives (focusing on the role of legal and regulatory instruments', part of roundtable on 'Just and Healthy Transition', Academy of Medical Sciences and Royal Society project on climate change and health.

2021: Presentation on 'The Role of International Law on Climate Change and the function of the Meeting of Parties under the Paris Agreement', Conference on 'The Transition to Net-Zero in the North of England', Durham Energy Institute Joint Conference with North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers

2020: Guest Lecture, Chapman University Fowler School of Law, USA, 'Climate Change Causation. (Some European) Litigation and the quest for a coherent causal analysis'

2019: Presentation to School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, ‘Climate Change and the Law’

2019: Principal Investigator of conference project and convenor of the 1^st interdisciplinary international Dundee Climate Conference with integrated masterclass, ‘Elements of a ‘European’, ‘International’, ‘Global’ Climate Consensus after Paris?’, funded by the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS), Presentation on ‘Elements of a European Consensus under the European Convention on Human Rights’

See the following links for media/press for the Dundee Climate Conference:

1. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-49481811

2. https://envirotecmagazine.com/2019/08/27/dundee-to-host-conference-on-climate-change-science-and-law/

2019: Annual Conference of the Society of Legal Scholars, Preston, presentation on ‘The “European Consensus” – a safety net for climate action under the European Convention on Human Rights’

2019: Third Dundee Energy Forum, Dundee, presentation on ‘Making law in CMA decisions: benefits, risks and potential of taking the Paris Agreement forward’

2018: ISSR Forum, School of Social Sciences, Discovery Centre Dundee, Dundee, presentation on ‘International law on nationality, citizenship and continuity’

2018: Swansea University and Morgan Academy, Swansea, co-convenor (with Prof Volker Röben, Prof Jukka Snell) workshop on ‘Union citizenship in the time of Brexit’, presentation on ‘International Law and continuity of EU Citizenship’

2017: European Parliament and Article 50 task force of the European Commission, Brussels, presentation of Research Report on ‘The Feasibility of Associate Union Citizenship post-Brexit’

2005: Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, Convenor and speaker, international conference on ‘International Environmental Law’, presentation on ‘Elements of Coherency in the Conception of International Environmental Liability Law’, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg

2003: Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, co-convenor (with Silja Vöneky, Volker Röben, Christian Walter) and speaker, conference on ‘Terrorism as a Challenge for National and International Law: Security versus Liberty?’, presentation on ‘Legal Status of State Sponsors of Terrorism in US Law’

Teaching Areas

 

In 2024/25: Climate Change Law and Policy, level 3.

Teaching expertise:

Public International Law

International Law on Climate Change

UN Human Rights Law

Global Human Rights Law

Law of the European Union

Legal Research Skills

English Law of Equity and Trusts

Contract Law

• Citizenship Rights in International and EU Law
• Human Rights Law
• International Environmental Law
• International Law on Climate Change
• Intersection of Science and Climate Law and Policy
• Public International Law

• 2022: Visiting Professor, Universitas Diponegoro, Indonesia:
• 2022: Member of International Peer Review Panel, Denmark Research Fund: Appointed as member of the International Peer Review Panel of the Independent Research Fund Denmark, Social Sciences in the filed of political science and legal science
• 2021: Fellow of Durham Energy Institute:
• 2021: Article on climate science and law in Scientific American:
• 2021: Climate Change in the Courts, article in New Scientist:
• 2021: Article in Nature on interdisciplinary research with Fredi Otto and Rupert Stuart-Smith: Article that discusses Dr Otto's and my interdisciplinary research on climate science and law
• 2021: Coverage in BBC on climate science in courts: Discussion of Research on Climate Science and Law
• 2021: Best science in courts, Irish Legal News: Discussion of Research on Climate Science and Law
• 2021: Climate Science in courts, Anthropocene Magazine: Discussion of Research on Climate Science and Law
• 2021: Guardian Article on causation and attribution study: Discussion of Research on Climate Science and Law
• 2021: Climate Science in litigation, in Polish: Discussion of Research on Climate Science and Law
• 2021: Climate science in courts, Cumhuriyet (in Turkish): Discussion of Research on Climate Science and Law
• 2021: Climate change and litigation, Rinnovabili (in Italian): Discussion of Research on Climate Science and Law
• 2021: Climate science and law, UPI: Discussion of Research on Climate Science and Law
• 2021: Science and law in the courts, EcoDebate (in Portuguese): Discussion of Research on Climate Science and Law
• 2021: Climate science in courts: Discussion of Research on Climate Science and Law
• 2021: Climate science in courts, Infobae (in Spanish): Discussion of Research on Climate Science and Law
• 2021: Legal Action against emitters, DeSmog.com: Discussion of Research on Climate Science and Law
• 2021: Coverage of interdisciplinary work on climate litigation in CarbonBrief: Discussion of Research on Climate Science and Law
• 2020: Member and Management Board Member of Durham University’s Institute of Hazard, Risk & Resilience:
• 2020: Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy:
• 2020: Founding Director, International Research Advisory Board IRAB: International Research Network that provides long-term capacity building through research and academic partnerships
• 2020: Law School Academic Achievement Award: Prize for outstanding academic performance
• 2004: Prize for the best PhD thesis, University of Göttingen: Prize awared for PhD thesis, including financial contribution to publication as book in the Max Planck Series on Public International Law

Authored book

• Minnerop, P. (2004). Paria-Staaten im Voelkerrecht? (Paria States in International Law?). (2nd ed. (reprint)). Springer Verlag
• Minnerop, P. (2004). Paria-Staaten im Voelkerrecht? (Pariah States in International Law?). Springer Verlag

Chapter in book

• Minnerop, P. Climate Causality: From Causation to Attribution. In M. Wewerinke-Singh, & S. Mead (Eds.), Cambridge Handbook on Climate Litigation. Cambridge University Press
• Minnerop, P. (2022). Article VIII WTO Agreement, Status of the WTO. In P. T. Stoll, & H. Hestermeyer (Eds.), Institutions and Dispute Settlement. Brill Academic Publishers
• Minnerop, P. (2020). The Legal Effect of the ‘Paris Rulebook’ under the Doctrine of Treaty Interpretation. In P. Cameron, X. Mu, & V. Roeben (Eds.), Global Energy in Transition: Towards rules-based multilateral governance of generation, markets and investment
• Minnerop, P. (2019). Climate Protection Agreements. In P. Minnerop, R. Wolfrum, & F. Lachenmann (Eds.), International Development Law: The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (205-215 (and online OPIL.ouplaw.com)). Oxford University Press
• Minnerop, P., & Roht-Ariaza, N. (2019). Solidarity Rights in Development, Peace, Environment and Humanitarian Assistance. In P. Minnerop, R. Wolfrum, & F. Lachenmann (Eds.), International Law of Development (825-837 (and online OPIL.ouplaw.com)). Oxford University Press
• Minnerop, P., & Roht-Ariaza, N. (2018). Solidarity Rights in Development, Peace, Environment, and Humanitarian Assistance. In P. Minnerop, R. Wolfrum, & F. Lachenmann (Eds.), Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law. Oxford University Press, online
• Minnerop, P. (2018). Climate Protection Agreements. In P. Minnerop, W. Ruediger, & F. Lachenmann (Eds.), Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law, online. Oxford University Press
• Minnerop, P. (2006). Article VIII WTO Agreement. In R. Wolfrum, P. T. Stoll, & K. Kaiser (Eds.), Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization. Kluwer: The Hague
• Minnerop, P. (2005). European Community Law. In R. Wolfrum, C. Langenfeld, & P. Minnerop (Eds.), Environmental Liability in International Law - Towards a Coherent Conception (159-210). Erich Schmidt: Berlin
• Minnerop, P. (2005). Supplementary State Liability in European Law. In R. Wolfrum, C. Langenfeld, & P. Minnerop (Eds.), Environmental Liability in International Law - Towards a Coherent Conception (211-222). Erich Schmidt, Berlin
• Minnerop, P., & Langenfeld, C. (2005). Environmental Liability Provisions in International Law. In R. Wolfrum, C. Langenfeld, & P. Minnerop (Eds.), Environmental Liability in International Law - Towards a Coherent Conception (159-210). Erich Schmidt Verlag
• Minnerop, P., & Wolfrum, R. (2005). Elements of Coherency in the conception of International Environmental Liability Law. In R. Wolfrum, C. Langenfeld, & P. Minnerop (Eds.), Environmental Liability in International Law - Towards a Coherent Conception (495-512). Erich Schmidt Verlag
• Minnerop, P. (2004). Legal Status of State Sponsors of Terrorism in US Law. In C. Walter, V. Roeben, & S. Voeneky (Eds.), Terrorism as a challenge for international and national law: security versus liberty (733-786). Springer

Edited book

• Minnerop, P., Roeben, V., & Snell, J. (Eds.). (2021). EU Citizenship as Institutional Membership. Oxford University Press
• Minnerop, P., Wolfrum, R., & Lachenmann, F. (Eds.). (2019). Internal Development Law. Oxford University Press
• Oellers-Frahm, K., Minnerop, P., Schorkopf, F., & Walter, C. (Eds.). (2008). World Court Digest 2001-2005. Kluwer, Berlin
• Wolfrum, R., Langenfeld, C., & Minnerop, P. (Eds.). (2005). Environmental Liability in International Law - Towards a Coherent Conception?. Erich Schmidt: Berlin 2005

Journal Article

• Minnerop, P. (online). Intergenerational Preparedness: Climate Change, Community Interest Obligations, and the Environmental Rule of Law. Global Policy, https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.13219
• Minnerop, P. (in press). Nationally Determined Contributions post-Global Stocktake: The Making of Prescribed Qualified Unilateral Acts in International Law. Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law,
• Minnerop, P., Carlarne, C. P., Slobodian, L., & Esty, D. C. (in press). Just Transitions in International Law. Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting,
• Minnerop, P., & Haines, A. (2024). KlimaSeniorinnen v Switzerland: the European Court of Human Rights leads the way on climate action. BMJ, 2024(387), Article q2156. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.q2156
• Minnerop, P., & Otto, F. E. L. (2024). The possibility of climate restoration law. Global Policy, 15(S5), 5-7. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.13421
• Otto, F. E., Minnerop, P., Raju, E., Harrington, L. J., Stuart‐Smith, R. F., Boyd, E., James, R., Jones, R. G., & Lauta, K. C. (2023). Law, justice and the role of courts in changing the social superstructure narrative in climate litigation: A Rejoinder to Benoit Mayer. Global Policy, 14(2), 416-419. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.13174
• Minnerop, P. (2023). Nationally determined contributions: working towards improved international climate and health law. BMJ, 2023(383), 2183. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p2183
• Minnerop, P. (2023). European Consensus as Integrative Doctrine of Treaty Interpretation: Joining Climate Science and International Law under the European Convention on Human Rights. Berkeley journal of international law, 40(2), 207-262
• Otto, F. E., Minnerop, P., Raju, E., Harrington, L. J., Stuart-Smith, R. F., Boyd, E., James, R., Jones, R., & Lauta, K. C. (2022). Causality and the fate of climate litigation: The Role of the social Superstructure Narrative. Global Policy, 13(5), 736-750. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.13113
• Minnerop, P. (2022). The Advance Interference-Like Effect of Climate Targets: Fundamental Rights, Intergenerational Equity and the German Federal Constitutional Court. Journal of Environmental Law, 34(1), 135-162. https://doi.org/10.1093/jel/eqab041
• Stuart-Smith, R. F., Otto, F. E., Saad, A. I., Lisi, G., Minnerop, P., Cedervall, K., van Zwieten, K., & Wetzer, T. (2021). Filling the evidentiary gap in climate litigation. Nature Climate Change, 11, 651-655. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-01086-7
• Minnerop, P., & Rostgaard, I. (2021). In Search of a Fair Share: Article 112 Norwegian Constitution, International Law and an Emerging Inter-Jurisdictional Discourse in Climate Litigation. Fordham international law journal, 44(4), 847-922
• Minnerop, P. (2020). The First German Climate Case. Environmental Law Review, 22, 215-226. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461452920948626
• Minnerop, P., & Otto, F. E. (2020). Climate Change and Causation: Joining Law and Climate Science on the basis of Formal Logic. Buffalo environmental law journal, 27(1), 49-86
• Minnerop, P. (2019). Integrating the ‘duty of care’ under the European Convention on Human Rights and the science and law of climate change: the decision of the Hague Court of Appeal in the Urgenda case
• Roeben, V., Minnerop, P., Snell, J., & Telles, P. (2018). Revisiting Union Citizenship from a Fundamental Rights perspective in the time of Brexit. European Human Rights Law Review, 5, 450-473
• Minnerop, P., & Roeben, V. (2018). Continuity as the rule, not the exception: How the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties protects against retroactivity of ‘Brexit’. European Human Rights Law Review, 5, 474-489
• Minnerop, P. (2018). Taking the Paris Agreement forward: Continuous strategic decision-making on Climate Action by the Meeting of the Parties. Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law Online, 21, 124-167
• Minnerop, P. (2018). Taking the Paris Agreement Forward: Continuous Strategic Decision-making on Climate Action by the Meeting of the Parties. Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law Online, 21 (2018)(1), 124-167. https://doi.org/10.1163/13894633_021001006
• Minnerop, P. (2004). German Constitutional Law Cases. European Public Law, 10(2), 221-236
• Minnerop, P., & Schorkopf, F. (2004). The German University Reform
• Minnerop, P. (2003). The Classification of States and the Creation of Status within the International Community. Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law Online, 7, 79-182
• Minnerop, P. (2002). Rogue States - States Sponsoring Terrorism?. German law journal, 3(9), https://doi.org/10.1017/s2071832200015352
• Minnerop, P. (2001). German Constitutional Law Cases (2001). European Public Law, 7, 549-563

Report

• Stuart-Smith, R., Saad, A., Otto, F., Lisil, G., Lauta, K., Minnerop, P., & Wetzer, T. (2021). Attribution science and litigation: facilitating effective legal arguments and strategies to manage climate change damages. FILE Foundation
• Roeben, V., Snell, J., Minnerop, P., Telles, P., & Bush, K. (2017). The Feasibility of Associate EU Citizenship for UK Citizens Post-Brexit. European Parliament
• Roeben, V., Snell, J., Minnerop, P., Telles, P., & Bush, K. (2017). The Feasibility of Associate EU Citizenship for UK Citizens Post-Brexit. [No known commissioning body]