Jonathan Church

Key information

Jonathan joined UCL as a PhD candidate in September 2020, following 6 years as a climate accountability lawyer at the environmental law charity, ClientEarth. During that time, Jonathan worked on climate governance at the international, national and EU level.

Jonathan takes a particular interest in the form and effectiveness of national climate change laws. Outside the UK context (where he has particular expertise), Jonathan has advised a national government on the development of its Net Zero law and appeared as an expert witness before a committee of the Oireachtas Éireann (Irish Parliament) concerning the design of Ireland’s proposed Net Zero law.

He holds an LLM in Environmental Law and Policy from UCL and an MSci in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge.

Jonathan’s PhD thesis aims to situate national climate laws within legal theory, potentially to open-up new approaches for designing legitimate and effective laws that can help address systemic challenges.

Research Supervisors

UCL Associations/Academic and Professional Memberships

UCL Centre for Law and Environment, 2020 –
UK Environmental Law Association (co-convenor, Climate Change and Energy Working Party), 2016 – 2018

Professional Experience

Climate Accountability Lawyer, ClientEarth, 2014 – 2020
Solicitor in private practice, 2011 – 2013

Public Engagements and Media Coverage

Jonathan has appeared in or been published / quoted in a range of media:

Carbon Brief, December 2020 - CCC: UK must cut emissions ‘78% by 2035’ to be on course for net-zero goal
Irish Times, October 2020 - Climate Bill will not deliver desired cut in emissions, says expert
BBC Future Planet, July 2020 – The law that could make climate change illegal
BBC Inside Science, April 2020 – Lockdown lessons for climate change and the carbon neutral Cumbrian coal mine
Sky News at 10, February 2020 – concerning the Heathrow judgment, [2019] EWHC 1070 (Admin)
Nature podcast, September 2018 – Negative emissions and swarms under strain
ITV News at 10, October 2017 – concerning the UK Government’s Clean Growth Strategy
BBC News, September 2017 – Climate change: Ministers should be ‘sued’ over targets
Carbon Brief, May 2017 - Guest post: Can the US legally weaken its Paris Agreement climate pledge?
Financial Times, October 2016 – Court battle threat hangs over climate change law
BusinessGreen, October 2014 – Why the Climate Change Act cannot be ‘suspended’

Publications

Navigating Net-Zero: Global Lessons in Climate Law-making (ClientEarth, September 2021)
Mind the Gap - Reviving the UK Climate Change Act (ClientEarth, October 2016)
Enforcing the Climate Change Act (2015) 4(1) UCLJLJ 109, UCL Journal of Law and Jurisprudence