For Dr Thomas Muinzer of the Aberdeen University Centre for Energy Law, the first months of 2026 have been marked by strategic public engagement activities. In addition to teaching his new postgraduate module on Climate Law and Sustainability at the Law School, Dr Muinzer has been contributing to shaping the legislative landscape on climate law in the United Kingdom and helping to develop meaningful legal responses to the global challenges of climate change.
In January, Dr Muinzer spoke at a House of Commons event for Members of Parliament, civil servants, and Westminster staff on ‘The Role of Parliaments in Crises and Emergencies: Before, During and After’. His contribution focused on the climate crisis and on how the UK Parliament, and parliaments more generally, can legislate effectively to address it.
In February, on behalf of the University of Aberdeen, the Scottish Legal Action Group, and the Scottish Climate Emergency Legal Network, Dr Muinzer delivered a lecture as Continuing Professional Development (CPD) training to members of Scotland’s Bar Society, the Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh. His lecture harped on the development of legal remedies and responses to climate change as one of the most difficult and far-reaching challenges of the contemporary world.
Independent of these early 2026 engagements, Dr Muinzer has made significant contributions to climate law scholarship, including publishing Major Cases in Climate Law (Hart Publishing, July 2025), the first monograph on court cases focused on climate change, and authoring the first monograph on the world’s first national framework climate legislation, the UK’s pioneering Climate Change Act: Climate and Energy Governance for the UK Low Carbon Transition: The Climate Change Act 2008 (Palgrave, 2018).
Through the research and public engagement activities of its members, AUCEL continues to inform scholarship and policy on the climate emergency, including developing innovative legal approaches to adaptation and mitigation in the UK and beyond.