Climate Liability Claims and Presenting Expert Evidence in Court

2025 has seen significant developments in climate litigation. The Federal Court ruled that the Australian Government does not have a duty of care to protect Torres Strait Islanders from climate change, only a week prior to the International Court of Justice handed down its momentous Advisory Opinion on the Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change. 

At the heart of these sorts of claims for climate-related damages against corporate and government actors is attribution science. How the court uses this science is fundamental to the success – or not – of the case. 

In this conversation, we will discuss the latest trends and what they mean for climate liability claims in the future, while examining the process of presenting expert evidence in court. 

About the speaker: Emrys Nekvapil SC

Emrys Nekvapil SC is a practicing counsel at the Victorian Bar. Emrys has an extensive practice in climate change litigation, including recent appearances for the Environment Council of Central Queensland in the ‘Living Wonders’ proceedings, and for the Australian Conservation Foundation in mining objection hearings in respect of the Winchester South coal mine. Emrys also chairs the Public Law Section of the Commercial Bar Association.

Panel moderator: Jacqueline Peel

Jackie is the inaugural Director of Melbourne Climate Futures and a Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor at Melbourne Law School. She is a leading, internationally-recognised expert in the field of environmental and climate change law and an elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences Australia. She has published widely in climate and environmental law, including leading monographs on Climate Litigation and Principles of International Environmental Law. 

Among many professional roles, Jackie has served as the Treasurer of the Australian & New Zealand Society of International Law, as a Co-Chair of the American Society of International Law’s Signature Initiative on Climate Change and as a Lead Author in Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report. She is on the editorial board of Transnational Environmental Law and is a co-founder of the Women’s Energy and Climate Law Network. 

Jackie was a Fulbright and Hauser Scholar at NYU and has held visiting scholar positions at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. In 2024, she was awarded the Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellowship to lead a 5-year program on global corporate climate accountability.