LSSC is back for 2022 and the Sustainability team caught up with two City student presenters.
Published Tuesday, 8th February, 2022 in University news
With the London Student Sustainability Conference (LSSC) returning for another year and taking place on Thursday 24th February, the University’s Sustainability team caught up with City students, Jack Palmer (Bar Vocational Studies) and Maja Berger (Legal Practice Course), who are two members of the Environmental Law Policy Clinic (ELPC) that will be presenting as part of the Conference. The Clinic consists of a group of law students from City who all have a strong interest in environmental law and policy, with most either having worked in sustainability-related projects before or have recently found a strong interest in.
Why did you get involved in LSSC22?
We wanted to get involved as we identified a need for law to be more connected with broader sustainability goals. There is a fine line between law- and policymaking and it was important for us to show that there are legal tools out there that can make a significant contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
What is your presentation about?
“Global Goals Meet Local Responsibility – Climate Emergency Declarations and the (In)Action taken by London Boroughs” aims to hold public authorities to account in respect of any action taken after having declared a climate emergency. Our presentation will be about the work of this year’s clinic building on the achievements and outcomes from last year’s work. We follow a step-by-step approach where we first spend a considerable amount of time researching London boroughs’ achievements and plans to fulfil their promises made under their Climate Emergency Declaration and elsewhere.
This year’s research focuses on green decision-making, community involvement and the alignment of both with COP26 outcomes. We then use our rights under the Environmental Information Regulations to request information on any of the gaps identified.
If you want to learn more about the project ahead of the presentation, please have a look at last year’s findings here: CED London Report City University.
What are you most looking forward to about the Conference?
The conference will be a good opportunity to learn about other projects, but we are also very excited to receive general input, feedback and questions about our own project from which we may draw inspiration in going forward with the research in the years to come.
Why should people sign up and come along?
People should attend the conference because it provides a perfect opportunity to learn about the sustainability work which students across the UK have been doing. This can create valuable connections for future projects. We experienced first-hand the power and impact that university law policy clinics can have when working collaboratively.
Other members of the ELPC are: Arun Patel, Alex Miller, Adeline Boo, Rosa Thomas, Isabelle Bienfait, Olive Burchill, Emily Williams, Sammy Chen, Bronte Serres-Carbo, Maddalena Berretti, Catherine Arnold, Kieran Bailey, Ruby Turok-Squire, Shannon Exarchou, Chatura Saravanan and Josie Fathers.