Just Transitions to a Net Zero World

Annual International Conference

Thursday 9th & Friday 10th October 2025 Durham University

About the Annual Conference

The Durham University’s Centre for Sustainable Development Law and Policy (CSDLP), in cooperation with the European Centre of Just Transition Research and Impact-Driven Transfer (JTC) at Martin Luther University Halle- Wittenberg, are holding a joint International Conference on ‘Just Transitions to a Net Zero World’ in Durham, 9th-10th October 2025.

The conference will bring together academics, policymakers and practitioners to explore just transition pathways to Net Zero amid climate change, environmental destruction, biodiversity loss, geopolitical shifts, technological disruption, and systemic inequities.

By drawing together interdisciplinary perspectives, we will address the challenges of conceiving and implementing just transitions to Net Zero. We will use an interdisciplinary lens to determine where our research can have the greatest impact and accelerate the speed of transitions.

Conference agenda

We examine Just Transitions as a multi-faceted concept used across diverse regional, national, communal, and sectoral contexts, and as an international, UNFCCC work programme (JTWP).

This conference seeks to advance the academic discourse but also the policy and international developments so that the agreed goal of “Transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science” (1/CMA.5 para. 28 d) can move closer to reality.

Our interdisciplinary focus acknowledges the international and national contestations of pathways and elements that form Just Transitions, and the need to find implementable solutions that reflect the social, economic, technological, legal and ethical dimensions.

Conference themes

• Financing Just Transitions
• Legal, Digital and Technological Infrastructures for Just Transitions
• Justice and Politics of Transformations
• Gaps in the Data Frontier in Just Transition Research

Conference objectives:

• Assessing progress on the interdisciplinary research agenda in respect of Article 6 implementation and outcomes of COP29 for the emerging country-to-country carbon trading markets & international and national environmental legislation.
• Analysing the potential of technology and AI to manage interdisciplinary decision-making under uncertainty.
• Investigating the potential of Digital Twins as a supporting technology.
• Understanding how stakeholders are recalibrating just transitions in the changing political world order.
• Demonstrating how equitable decarbonisation strategies create long-term value, mitigate risks and drive competitive advantage – company case studies.
• Exploring public-private partnerships for accelerating just transition pathways
• Incorporating culture into just transition planning and delivery.
• Comparing developments in international law as they emerge from the ICJ and the ITLOS advisory opinions
• Mapping the science-policy interface with a view to the scientific production and policy uptake of climate science evidence

Speakers confirmed so far:

• E. Mr Francois Jackman, Ambassador of Barbados and Permanent Representative to the United Nations
• Dr. Uwe Schlink, Senior Researcher, Department Urban & Environmental Sociology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ
• Professor Gordon Blair, Head of Environmental Digital Strategy, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH)
• Dr Friederike Otto, Senior Lecturer in Climate Science at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London
• Dr Joseph Kobusheshe, Director Environment, Health and Safety, Petroleum Authority of Uganda - The ups and downs of the transition journey of the global south JP
• Professor Benoit Combemale, University of Rennes & Inria – To be discussed with Nelly Bencomo if there is an interest for the participants, e.g., about digital twin engineering LDT
• Gleider Hernández, Professor of Public International Law, KU Leuven

Sponsorship opportunities

For companies committed to sustainability, we offer conference sponsorship opportunities. Sponsoring the Just Transitions to a Net Zero World, Annual International Conference allows organisations to showcase their leadership, connect with like-minded individuals, and enhance brand visibility among key stakeholders and influencers in Sustainable Development Law, Finance and Policy-making.

To discuss how your organisations can get involved, please contact Kate Morris - Senior Business Development Manager at CSDLP to explore sponsorship opportunities in more detail. kathryn.l.morris@durham.ac.uk  

Please visit the following link or scan the QR code for registration

https://forms.office.com/e/RzuSaG6avY

For further information, please contact:

JusTN0W – Just Transitions to a Net Zero World

Centre for Sustainable Development Law and Policy, Durham University

Kate Morris, kathryn.l.morris@durham.ac.uk

Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg

European Centre of Just Transition Research and Impact-Driven Transfer (JTC)

Transregional Just Transition Governance: socio-legal and polit-economic perspectives

PD Dr. Katrin Seidel, katrin.seidel@jura.uni-halle.de