Lawyers for 1.

5˚C - Humanity’s Lifeline

Introduction

We, the undersigned members of the legal profession, support the contents of this letter
in the light of substantial evidence that breaching the 1.5˚C temperature goal established
by the Paris Agreement on Climate Change risks mass loss of life and threatens the
conditions for a stable civilisation, including the rule of law.

The climate emergency, which Parliament recognised on 1 May 2019, is not a natural disaster:
to the contrary, it is human-made. The warming effect of greenhouse gases has been
understood since the mid-nineteenth century. In 1965 the US Government warned of the “vast
geophysical experiment” from burning fossil fuels, and by 1980 the oil industry’s own internal
research was predicting “globally catastrophic effects” by the middle of this century. In short, the
climate crisis is the result of informed human activities and decisions.

In April 2022, at the launch of the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change, the gold-standard for climate research, the UN Secretary General summarised the
situation as follows:

“We are on a pathway to global warming of more than double the 1.5°C limit agreed in
Paris. Some Government and business leaders are saying one thing, but doing another.
Simply put, they are lying. And the results will be catastrophic.”

The science is clear (see context document): continuing on current trajectories will lead us to
breach the 1.5˚C temperature threshold and doing so presents intolerable risks. This has been
recognised by courts across a wide range of jurisdictions emphasising the 1.5 ˚C limit as a key
consideration to delineate the scope of human rights and other legal obligations. For instance, in
Urgenda Foundation v. State of the Netherlands the Dutch Supreme Court invoked the 1.5˚C
limit as its benchmark for determining the scope of the rights to life and to family life:

“Climate science has ... arrived at the insight that a safe warming of the earth must not
exceed 1.5°C and that this means that the concentration of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere must remain limited to a maximum of 430 ppm. Exceeding these
concentrations would involve a serious degree of danger that the consequences referred
to in 4.2 [which includes the loss of human life] will materialise on a large scale ...the
Supreme Court finds that Articles 2 and 8 ECHR relating to the risk of climate change
should be interpreted in such a way that these provisions oblige the contracting states to
do ‘their part’ to counter that danger.”

In October 2021, the Law Society of England and Wales published its Climate Change
Resolution, resolving to take rapid action consistent with restricting global warming to 1.5˚C
compared to pre-industrial levels.

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Within this resolution, the Law Society recognises “the pervasive impact of climate change on
society and legal practice” and acknowledges the “essential role” of the legal profession in
upholding the rule of law, human rights and access to justice, in order to advance efforts which
“mitigate the climate crisis and strengthen climate justice.” Finally, it urges lawyers to engage in
“climate conscious” legal practice, inter alia by “approaching any matter arising in the course of
legal practice with regard to the likely impact of that matter upon the climate crisis.”

Lawyers contribute to the climate crisis

One month prior to the Law Society’s resolution, the US Law Students for Climate Accountability
published their second scorecard, issuing each of the top Vault Law 100 law firms with a climate
score between A and F (where F represents the most damaging climate practices). Many City of
London law firms are included in the list. Four of the five Magic Circle firms received an “F”
score. The report reveals that the 100 firms facilitated $1.36 trillion in fossil fuel transactions, a
$50 billion increase from the previous reported year. It also found that the top 100 firms litigated
a total of 358 cases for fossil fuel clients in the past five years, compared to 275 cases from the
previous year’s report.

The City is one of the largest global centres for financing fossil fuel projects, assessed in 2019
as supporting at least 15% of global emissions. It has been estimated by Aviva that investments
in the FTSE100 are driving us towards 4˚C warming (to understand what this implies see here).
As noted, our lawyers advise on these deals and defend them in court, actively undermining the
international community’s commitment to reduce carbon dioxide emissions as a matter of
urgency (by around 50% by 2030).

Lawyers must be part of the solution

It is therefore unsurprising that the Law Society and an increasing number of professional and
civil society organisations worldwide (including the International Bar Association, the Australian
Legal Sector Alliance, Lawyers for Climate Justice in Canada, Lawyers for Climate Action in
New Zealand, the Chancery Lane Project and the Net Zero Lawyers Alliance) are calling on
lawyers to profoundly change their practices by engaging in climate conscious lawyering.

It is unconscionable to pursue a course of conduct for short-term profit knowing that it exposes
the public to intolerable risks of disaster . And since it is widely recognised that younger
generations, the economically disadvantaged, and racially marginalised communities are
exposed to disproportionate impacts and risks, actions inconsistent with the 1.5˚C limit are also
inherently discriminatory. As highlighted by a recent ruling in the US, companies which provide
misleading information about the climate crisis or their own contribution to it may also face
criminal prosecution .

Lawyers who support transactions inconsistent with the 1.5˚C limit expose themselves and their
clients to substantial legal risk, as well as the real-world risk of catastrophe. Instead, lawyers

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must use their influence for good, supporting their clients in making the urgent transformation to
business practices that is required to avert disaster.

Our three propositions

With the above in mind, we advance the following three propositions (which we urge regulators
to support and enforce):

1. SELF-EDUCATION: All lawyers must ensure they acquire and maintain

2. CLIENT ADVICE: Lawyers, including in-house and government lawyers, should be

3. DUTY TO THE COURT: Lawyers should support efforts by the judiciary to develop
climate literacy, and in appropriate cases, ensure courts have access to relevant
evidence concerning the climate emergency and have due regard to the
compatibility of any investment, project or transaction with the 1.5˚C threshold. In
prosecutions concerning climate protest, both prosecutors and defence lawyers
should ensure the court is aware that a) breach of the 1.5˚C limit risks mass loss of
life and the end of the rule of law and that b) there is substantial evidence that
governments and businesses, individually and collectively, continue to pursue
courses of action which they know to be inconsistent with that limit. The courts must
apply the law to such cases, but lawyers must ensure that they do so on the basis of
the relevant facts.

These propositions will be challenging to some, but in the context of the extreme emergency we
face, they are modest. The climate crisis is not just “another issue”. To the contrary, a stable
climate is the foundation for a stable civilisation and the rule of law. Breaching the 1.5˚C Paris
temperature goal thus threatens disorder and the end of the rule of law.

We must take bold and proportionate measures to protect our young people, our country, our
institutions and the wider international community. And we must take them now.

Signed:

Rhodri Price Lewis KC

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Margherita Cornaglia, Barrister

Aswini Weereratne KC

Monika Sobiecki, Partner, Bindmans LLP

Fiona Scolding KC

Paul Brown KC

Jolyon Maugham KC

Peter Carter KC

Ben Cooper KC

Matt Hutchings KC

Samantha Broadfoot KC

Marc Willers KC

Estelle Dehon KC

Josephine Whitehead SC, Senior Counsel

Gregg Lynn Taylor KC

Lawrence Kershen KC, Mediator, Restorative Justice facilitator

Liz Davies KC, Barrister

Pete Weatherby KC, Barrister

Prof Leslie Thomas KC, Barrister and Professor of Law

Esther Stanford-Xosei, Jurisconsult

Bill Bowring, Barrister; Professor of Law

Susan Bright, Professor of Land Law

Professor Paul Watchman, Lawyer and Legal Academic

Farhana Yamin, Lawyer, Visiting Fellow, Somerville College, Oxford

Tayyiba Bajwa, Barrister

Robyn Reed, Solicitor

Dr Alexander H Shattock, Barrister

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Jerome Spaargaren, Patent Attorney

Sue Sleeman, Barrister

Verity Bell, Barrister

Miranda Butler, Barrister

Antonia Benfield, Barrister

Chris Sykes, Barrister

Amos Waldman, Barrister

Charles Bishop, Barrister

Evie Barden, Barrister

Alex Goodman, Barrister

Piers Marquis, Barrister

Melanie Nazareth, Barrister

Mike Reed, Practising Solicitor

Feja Lesniewska, Law and policy researcher

Aoife Fleming, Campaigner World's Youth for Climate Justice

Dr Gearóid Ó Cuinn, Director, Global Legal Action Network (GLAN)

Natalie Barbosa, UK Lawyer

Robyn Hugo, Director: climate change engagement at Just Share; attorney (non-practising)

Kerri Bridges, Solicitor

Josh van den Dries, Solicitor

Dr. Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh, Assistant Professor of Public International Law, Grotius

Hannah Rought-Brooks, Barrister

Greg Ó Ceallaigh, Lawyer

Meredoc McMinn, Barrister

Ollie Persey, Barrister

Russell Fraser, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers

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Nerida Harford-Bell, Barrister

Sophie Caseley, Barrister

Michael House, Barrister

Nicola Harries, Solicitor

Joseph Thomas, Barrister

Graham Denholm, Barrister

Jennifer Ramos, Lawyer - Corporate/Finance and Biodiversity

Abigail Holt, Barrister

Mary-Rachel McCabe, Barrister

Penelope Richardson, Solicitor

Katharine Marks, Barrister

Bojana Asanovic, Barrister

Gemma Daly, Barrister

Helen Curtis, Barrister

Katrina Yates, Barrister

Maria Moodie, Barrister

Harj Narulla, Barrister

Joe Middleton, Barrister

Mary Westcott, Barrister

Tom Goodman, Solicitor

Humzah Khan, Project Associate at The Chancery Lane Project

Robert Clarke, Solicitor

David Watkinson, Barrister (retired, unregistered)

Julian Lynch, Barrister

Charlotte Goodman, Barrister

Declan Owens, Solicitor

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Vivek Kumar, Barrister

Katya Novakovic, Solicitor

David Messling, Barrister

Joe Snape, Solicitor

Paul Powlesland, Barrister

Giulia Trojano, Solicitor

Caroline Mair-Toby, Lawyer/ Director

Rosalee Dorfman Mohajer, Barrister

Bethany Shiner, Lecturer in Law

Gwawr Thomas, Barrister

Dr Ivano Alogna, Research Fellow in Environmental and Climate Change Law, British Institute
of International and Comparative Law

Nelson Chege, Lawyer

Josephine Gillingwater, Legal Intern

Steve Norton, Advanced paralegal, trade union member

Kevin Brown, Barrister

Sue Willman, Solicitor

Margherita Huntley, Law student, Birkbeck

Luís Sousa Ribeiro, Lawyer

Bethan Harris, Barrister

Ruth Jebet Rotich, Advocate Of The High Court Of Kenya

Giles Nelson, Barrister at Law

Lydia Dagostino, Solicitor

Lucy Claridge, Solicitor & Senior Counsel, Forest Peoples Programme

Charley Pattison, Barrister

Emily Heggadon, Barrister

Emily Hayman, Paralegal

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Sabrina Coelho, Solicitor

Pete Lyons, Solicitor

Finnian Clarke, Legal caseworker, future pupil barrister

Katie-Scarlett Wetherall, Solicitor

Els Boonacker, Strategy consultant in legal discussion

Roxana Mandrutiu, Lawyer

Sangeet Kaur, Subject-Niche Legal Recruiter

Dr. Kinnari Bhatt, Solicitor, Director & Academic

Shivani Biju, 2022 law graduate from India. Interested in environmental law ESG and climate
change policy

Helen Taller, Senior Solicitor (Property and Estates)

Riccardo Sallustio, Solicitor

Melanie Martin, Solicitor

Samuel McGinty, Solicitor

Liam Welch, Solicitor

Melissa Walker, Lawyer

Lisa McClory, Solicitor and Director at Fractal.Legal

James Harrison, Barrister

Martha Jean Baker, Lawyer

Eleanor Leydon, Barrister

Sophie Tremlin, Senior Legal Researcher

Barney Branston, Barrister

Laura Moss, Lawyer

Joe Hodson, Paralegal

Fabiano de Andrade Correa, Lawyer and international consultant; Lead Counsel on Peace
Justice and Governance with the CISDL; co-chair of the Climate Change Law Specialist Group
at the IUCN WCEL

Niamh Grahame, Paralegal

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Becky Annison, Director of Engagement (The Chancery Lane Project)

Gerry Liston, Legal Officer, Global Legal Action Network

Zaneta Sedilekova, Climate and Biodiversity Risk Lawyer

Elsie Blackshaw-Crosby, Managing Lawyer, The Lifescape Project

Mothiur Rahman, Lawyer and law lecturer

Jamie Potter, Managing Director, Good Law Practice

Jodie Blackstock, Barrister

Clare Finn, Solicitor (retired)

Richard Reynolds, Barrister

Paula Candia Inostroza, Lawyer (Chile)

Amanda Contreras Iori, Compliance and Digital Ethics Head (Attorney)

Nicole Valentinova, Solicitor

Joanna Ford, Solicitor

Liz Carter, Legal business development

Joel Semakula, Barrister

Ming Zee Tee, Trainee Solicitor

Adeniyi Akindele, Barrister

Hassaan Ghazali, Lawyer

Tiina Georg, Lawyer

Carolina Revilla Paz, Lawyer

Aimée Girdwood, Lawyer (non-practising roll)

Shruti Agarwal, Lawyer practising primarily in the Supreme Court of India

Harry Spurr, Barrister

Rita Tania Vera Cespedes, Especialista Legal en Energía

Kim Vowden, Solicitor

Ronan Tosl, Barrister

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Nicky Cross, Solicitor (retired)

Armand Gonzales, Biodiversity Scientist and Law Student

Paul Grelon, Trainee Solicitor

Deborah Gellner, Solicitor

Mark Rogers, Legal Adviser

Kiu Jia Yaw, Lawyer (Malaysia)

Jonathan White, Solicitor

Iain Byrne, International human rights lawyer Amnesty International (in a personal capacity)

Olivia Tattarletti, Lawyer

Etelle Higonnet, Lawyer and campaigner

Anna Khalfaoui, Solicitor

Sor.Rattanamanee Polkla, Lawyer

Lisa Stone, Lawyer

Kirsten Youens, Attorney, ALL RISE Attorneys for Climate and Environmental Justice

Melinda Janki, Attorney-at-Law

Edwin Alblas, Assistant professor environmental law

Melissa Fourie, Attorney and Executive Director, Centre for Environmental Rights

Tim Crosland, former Government lawyer, Director, Plan B.Earth

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