Our work
Legal innovation
Our vision
At Opportunity Green, our experience, positioning and skills make us well placed to bring a fresh legal eye to the climate crisis. We believe lawyers are obligated to analyse the existing legal systems and regulations to stop climate change.
We use legal innovation to forge new pathways on climate action or where that is not possible, find pathways within the present legal structure to facilitate the legislation needed to slash carbon pollution.
Our legal services
Our team of lawyers and legal experts can analyse and use new and existing legal pathways to reduce emissions globally. We currently provide a range of services which are outlined below.
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The law can be a powerful tool for change, whether driving innovation through progressive regulation or jumpstarting action through flashpoint legal cases. At Opportunity Green we combine legal expertise with advocacy experience to create impactful strategic campaigns with compelling narratives.
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Persuasive legal analysis is vital to identifying potential regulatory solutions and developing robust policy in complex sectors. Examples of previous legal analysis projects are available on our Publications page.
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Opportunity Green’s team offer a pragmatic approach to using the law to effect change. We bring a broad range of experience from across the not-for-profit, commercial, public and political sectors, which enables us to offer relevant, useable legal advice to our partners to help their efforts to stop climate change. Please get in touch if you think we could support your project.
Legal Publications
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Submission to the International Court of Justice
OG asks the ICJ to confirm that States must do more to address the substantive climate impacts from international aviation and shipping.
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EU Taxonomy Challenge
We joined four other NGOs launching a legal challenge to the EU Commission’s Taxonomy for sustainable activities.
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UN submission on accountability in the context of human rights and climate change
Submission to the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change.
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Supporting submission to the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea
We ask ITLOS to confirm that the law of the sea obliges countries to decarbonise international shipping.
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Joint paper on the necessity for national ownership of the European Green Deal
We call for robust national climate governance to foster national leadership in delivering the EU’s objectives on climate neutrality and the rule of law.
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Submission to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
We respond to the OHCHRs call for input on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change, in advance of MEPC 77.
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Getting hydrogen right from the start: Legal analysis
The European Commission’s delegated act defining additionality and geographic and temporal correlation of Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin goes beyond the authority the Commission was given.
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Requiring Oil Majors to Pay: A legal Analysis
This analysis discusses whether and how the EU can pass on a carbon price to fuel suppliers rather than European households.
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Charterer liability and the EU ETS
As the European Commission proposes adding shipping to the ETS, Opportunity Green considers the division of responsibility for compliance between ship owners and charterers.
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Freedom to Regulate the High Seas
We assess how countries can meet their obligation to reduce the climate impact of international shipping without conflicting with existing international law
Why do our partners trust us?
Our legal team bring experience, passion and creativity to their work.
Our Legal Director, Carly Hicks, tells us more:
“At Opportunity Green we believe that as lawyers we have an ethical duty to apply the power of the law to help mitigate – and stop – the climate crisis. We are currently focused on identifying opportunities to create impactful change across a number of sectors, including shipping and aviation. I’m thrilled to be leading a passionate team of legal experts acting for the most important client of them all: our planet.”