Program aims
The Laureate Program on Global Corporate Climate Accountability is a 5-year research program funded by an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship. Professor Jackie Peel aims to transform the role of international law and global standards and mechanisms in raising the ambition and ensuring delivery of companies’ climate promises.
Professor Peel will work with policymakers and peak industry groups in Australia, in other key markets, and at the international level, to develop and implement legal tools to provide clear direction for the actions companies must take to align with global net zero goals.
By bringing together separate research areas, across different jurisdictions, the program seeks to generate new knowledge on how international law and transnational standards can incentivise ambitious action and improve corporate climate accountability.
Background
Since 2021, major companies’ pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have doubled, but policymakers and firms alike see globally consistent rules as urgently needed to stop greenwashing and support accountability.
This program aims to transform international law’s role in raising the ambition and ensuring delivery of companies’ climate promises. By designing implementation tools with policymakers and business, and training future climate leaders in this innovative approach, the program seeks to accelerate policy and law reform for rapidly cutting corporate emissions to net zero.
We believe Australia can be a leader in global efforts to secure a safe climate future, vital for protecting our vulnerable environment, economy and region.
About the Laureate Fellow
Professor Jackie Peel is a world-leading expert in international climate law and climate litigation. She is a professor of law at the Melbourne Law School in Australia and was the inaugural Director of Melbourne Climate Futures — the University of Melbourne’s cross-disciplinary climate initiative.
Professor Peel served as a Lead Author on Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for its Sixth Assessment Report, directed the Hague Academy of International Law’s first ever climate change course and co-chaired the American Society of International Law’s signature initiative on climate change, amongst other roles. As the recipient of the Kathleen Fitzpatrick Award in addition to her Laureate fellowship, Professor Peel is committed to mentoring a next generation of climate leaders and scholars in climate litigation, with a focus on female early career researchers from the Global South.
