The links between COP and fossil fuel companies have been “embedded from the beginning,” stated Rolling Stone, with efforts led by the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association, or IPIECA. Ben Franta said that IPIECA is “probably one of the most important organizations in the history of climate obstruction, as it looks like it played a key coordinating role for literally hundreds of fossil fuel companies…”

Rupert Stuart-Smith from the Oxford Sustainable Law Programme explains a new frontier of attribution science which seeks to attribute the impacts of climate change - such as heatwave mortality - and be used to hold high emitters to account in court. 

Bloomberg Climate Columnist Lara Williams spoke to Dr Thom Wetzer about Shell's "Pyrrhic victory” in the courts. 

Dr Thom Wetzer was quoted in The Wall Street Journal on Shell's court victory, which overturned a ruling that required its emissions to reduce by 45%. He told the paper that the win might be a "Pyrrhic victory that merely delays the inevitable."

Dr Thom Wetzer told The Guardian that a court ruling in Shell's favour has led the door "wide open" for future litigations. "Companies should act in anticipation of this norm being enforceable or face significant legal risk," he said.

As COP29 kicks off in Baku, Oxford Smith School academics will be on the ground contributing their insights and expertise to help ensure the negotiations are grounded in the latest science and research.  

A new study, developed through pro-bono partnerships with 48 leading law firms around the world, provides the most detailed view yet of how key economic rules are aligning – or not – to climate goals. 

"Climate litigation is not just growing — it’s snowballing," writes The Daily Upside. However, international courts have been slow to catch up. Dr Ben Franta of the Oxford Sustainable Law Programme comments:  “It’s a well-known challenge [with] international courts: Because they don’t have independent police power, they must persuade member states to comply with their orders.”