Call for Abstracts for a conference and an Emerging Scholars Forum on: Reexamining the “Green” in the Green Transition: Law, Extraction, and the Limits of Sustainability
We invite abstracts for an international conference on 26-27 November held in conjunction with an emerging scholars’ forum on 25 November 2026. These events will also serve as the basis for a special issue of the Journal of Human Rights and the Environment.
The global shift towards a “green transition” is increasingly framed as both an environmental necessity and a pathway to sustainable development. Legal frameworks at international, regional, and national levels, ranging from sustainability taxonomies and climate finance mechanisms to corporate due diligence regimes, seek to define and regulate what counts as “sustainable” economic activity. Yet growing evidence suggests that these frameworks may reproduce, rather than resolve, underlying patterns of extractivism, inequality, environmental harm and human rights violations.
This raises a fundamental question: what, if anything, is truly “green” about the green transition?
We invite contributions that critically examine the legal and governance structures underpinning the green transition. In particular, the conference seeks to explore legal concepts such as “do no significant harm,” environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards, and sustainability screening. It aims to understand how these concepts are operationalized in legal practice, whether they effectively constrain environmentally harmful and socially unjust forms of economic activity, and if so, for whom and where. In addition, the conference will examine what these practices mean for the present and future of law seeking to protect the planet.
Submission details
Abstracts (max. 300 words) should be submitted by 1 August 2026 to sustainability@jur.lu.se. Applicants will be notified of the outcome by 10 August 2026.
Participants in the Forum will take part in dedicated paper sessions, mentoring discussions, and networking activities, and will be encouraged to attend the main conference on 26–27 November.
For more details, refer here
