Natural Justice, the Centre for Environmental Rights, and the University of Pretoria’s Centre for Environmental Justice in Africa are now accepting applications for the Climate Litigation School (“the School”). The School brings together students, researchers, and people working in climate justice to look at how law, and teamwork across different fields, can help respond to the climate crisis. Sessions cover the main areas of climate litigation, environmental governance, climate science, and the part that legal and community advocacy play in moving climate justice forward.

The programme runs from 6 to 10 July 2026 at the Future Africa Campus, University of Pretoria, South Africa. It is fully funded. Wheelchair-accessible accommodation, meals, and flights will be covered for participants where needed.

About the School

The School was set up to build lasting skills and working relationships among the many people pushing for climate justice in South Africa and across Africa. It is a space to train lawyers, legal empowerment practitioners, and students from a range of backgrounds — law, environmental science, policy, and more — in the practical skills, strategies, and ethics behind climate cases.

Rather than sticking to standard legal teaching, the School focuses on hands-on training rooted in real situations. It draws on well-known climate cases, teaching that involves participants directly, and approaches built around people’s rights, all to support litigation that puts environmental justice first. By bringing different fields together and building strong ties between lawyers and communities, the School helps connect legal know-how with the day-to-day reality of the communities hit hardest by climate change and extraction.

One thing that sets the School apart is how it brings scientific evidence together with Indigenous and traditional knowledge in legal work. As climate cases lean more and more on attribution science, environmental data, and projections of future impact, the School gathers scientists, Indigenous knowledge holders, and community leaders in the same room to shape litigation that is both technically sound and culturally grounded. The goal is for communities to be active partners in building legal strategies, not just names on a case — strategies that reflect their rights, their care for the land, and the knowledge passed down over generations.

In the end, the School hopes to help raise a new generation of climate litigators and movement lawyers who can take on legal action that challenges long-standing injustice and works toward a fair, inclusive, and sustainable future.

Participants will also meet and learn from practitioners, academics, and experts doing some of the most important work in climate litigation today. To make the experience as rich as possible, the School aims to bring together people from a wide range of backgrounds.

Who should apply

We welcome applications from people based in South Africa who work or study in areas such as law, environmental science, public policy, and climate justice activism. We are especially keen to hear from applicants who plan to put what they learn to use — supporting climate justice in their own communities or in their work.

Selection criteria

Applicants will be chosen based on:

• A clear interest or background in climate, environmental, or human rights work;
• The potential to both contribute to and gain from the programme;
• A commitment to advancing climate justice in their community or professional work;
• Diversity, including racial and gender representation, which will also be taken into account.

 Apply Now