The City Law School hosted this year’s Public Interest Environmental Law (PIEL) UK conference, and its students have contributed to a new module on Sustainability and Climate Change.
By Dr Shamim Quadir (Senior Communications Officer), Published
As the climate crisis and other global challenges intensify, the need for transformative education has never been more urgent. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (SDG 4 on quality education and SDG 13 on climate action) highlight the importance of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in preparing students to think critically, act responsibly, and help build a more just and sustainable world.
Students at The City Law School, City St George’s, University of London have taken change of their own learning and are contributing to solutions to global challenges.
Public Interest Environmental Law (PIEL) UK Conference 2025
Coinciding with Earth Day, the conference returned this year to The City Law School on Tuesday 22 April 2025.
Public Interest Environmental Law UK (PIEL UK) is an organisation run by law students passionate about environmental matters and the legal structures surrounding them.
Entitled, “Greenwashing, OMNIBUS regulation, and plastic governance,” this year’s conference was the 19th in the PIEL UK series, and examined the legal dimensions of sustainability and environmental justice.
The event consisted of expert-led panels, including one on Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs), which featured the stories of Indian activists, Anuradha Talwar and Lalsu Nogoti, who experienced legal harassment for defending their community and the environment. Alongside them, environmental justice lawyer, Charlie Holt, delved into the legal tactics used to silence activists.
Further panels covered the topics of greenwashing under the EU Omnibus Regulation (by Cenk Narter), plastic governance and the Global Plastics Treaty (Professor Rosalind Malcolm), and corporate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) accountability (Professor Tapas Mishra).
Dr Jed Odermatt, Reader at The City Law School, delivered a presentation on embedding climate and sustainability into education.
Lakshana Pattar, PIEL Secretary and LLB student at The City Law School, commented:
Involving our students in co-design in education
Students at the School have also taken part in the co-creation of a new, interdisciplinary module on Sustainability and Climate Change. In January, they provided their input during a co- design workshop facilitated by Dom Pates, Senior Educational Technologist, and the Learning Enhancement and Development (LEaD) team, which included designing the final lecture of the module.
Reflecting on her experience, Anastasia Charalampous, one of the student leaders of the module, said:
Safiyya Khan, who also designed and led the session, added:
Professor Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos, Head of Department, Academic Programmes, at the School, sees the co-design initiative as a way to connect research and teaching:
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