Cambridge Forum on Corporate Climate Governance: Themed Issue on Operationalising Corporate Climate Governance and Accountability for Just Transition Across Legal Regimes

Cambridge Forum on Corporate Climate Governance is a peer-reviewed, open access journal published by Cambridge University Press as part of the Cambridge Forum journal series. It explores how corporate-sector action on climate change can contribute to a sustainable future, and the decision-making processes and legal, regulatory and financial frameworks required to facilitate this. The journal publishes academic articles alongside contributions from non-academic experts and policymakers, as well as papers jointly authored by academics and their business counterparts. Its online ISSN is 3049-8503, and it works on a themed issue format that draws together research from business, law, finance, political science, economics, environmental studies, climate litigation, international relations, sociology, public policy and supply chain studies.

The journal invites submissions for the themed issue “Operationalising Corporate Climate Governance and Accountability for Just Transition Across Legal Regimes”. Corporations worldwide are restructuring operations, divesting from fossil fuels and transforming business models across energy, agriculture, technology and global supply chains, while simultaneously expanding into green mineral extraction, renewable energy and carbon markets. The call notes that these shifts raise justice and governance questions on two fronts: corporate emissions disproportionately harm vulnerable populations, local communities and Small Island Developing States that contribute minimally to global emissions, and the energy transition itself risks generating new inequities as decarbonisation costs fall unevenly across geographies, workers and supply chains.

The editors observe that International Investment Agreements, corporate governance frameworks and emerging due diligence regimes adopt human rights aspirations but often lack the institutional mechanisms to hold corporations accountable for climate harms or transition-related injustices across their operations and supply chains. The issue engages the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities as it extends into corporate accountability debates, reinforced by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights advisory opinion recognising that differentiated responsibilities may inform the conduct expected of private corporate actors. The issue proposes a governance paradigm shift from aspirational commitments to enforceable, science-based obligations, and treats transnational litigation, investment arbitration, treaty obligations, climate due diligence, financial disclosure and supply chain governance as core regulatory architectures.

• Dr. Can Eken, Durham University
• Simeng Wang, Durham University
• Prof. Fernando Dias Simões, Peking University School of Transnational Law
• Prof. Nitish Monebhurrun, University Center of Brasilia
• Prof. Paulo Canelas de Castro, University of Macau

• Climate impacts and evidence: how climate attribution science can link corporate emissions to quantifiable local harm, and what evidentiary standards establish liability in ISDS and transnational proceedings.
• Just transition and energy justice: how evolving standards embed just transition principles into binding obligations, and how communities affected by fossil fuel phase-outs or green mineral extraction secure remedies.
• Transnational litigation and parent company liability: how courts are being used to hold parent companies accountable for harms caused by subsidiaries and supply chain actors abroad.
• Treaty practice and Global South perspectives: how Global South treaty models reshape corporate climate and human rights obligations, and how CBDR influences international economic law.
• Corporate governance and supply chains: how climate due diligence, financial disclosures and ESG obligations reshape corporate risk management, investor expectations and global accountability.
• Frontier governance: how regulatory frameworks should address the impacts of emerging technologies, AI, geoengineering, carbon removal and deep-sea mining where hard law is fragmented.
• Interdisciplinary perspectives: how insights from environmental science, political economy, sociology, business ethics and public policy can operationalise corporate climate accountability.

The issue is open to academics, practitioners, policymakers and non-academic experts. The editors state that they particularly welcome contributions from scholars and practitioners working outside or across traditional legal disciplines, including environmental science, corporate governance, political economy, business ethics and policy studies. They also actively encourage submissions from researchers at all career stages and from all regions, and are committed to ensuring that the final set of published authors reflects gender balance.

Authors may submit a range of article types. The journal’s indicative word counts are:

• Research article: typically 6,000 to 10,000 words, abstract required
• Case study: 6,000 to 8,000 words, abstract required
• Review article: 6,000 to 8,000 words, abstract required
• Roundtable paper: no more than 4,000 words, abstract required
• Debate, response or position paper: no more than 4,000 words, abstract required
• Policy paper: no more than 4,000 words, abstract required
• Reflection: 2,000 to 3,000 words, abstract required
• Introduction or editorial: no more than 4,000 words, no abstract

Abstracts should be no more than 250 words, jargon-free, with no sub-headings, undefined abbreviations or references, and a maximum of six keywords are allowed. Text should be double-spaced in British-English spelling. Referencing follows Chicago author-date style, with Bluebook style for legal references not covered by the Chicago Manual of Style.

All submissions must be made through the journal’s online peer review system, ScholarOne Manuscripts, which requires an account separate from a Cambridge Core account. Authors should consult the journal’s author instructions and the preparing your materials page before submitting. Because the journal seeks to promote dialogue between policymakers, practitioners and academics, authors are encouraged to use an accessible writing style. Articles are peer reviewed for both content and style, and appear digitally and open access. All authors are required to declare any funding and competing interests upon submission, in line with the journal’s publishing ethics guidelines.

The journal is fully open access and levies an article processing charge. Cambridge University Press lists the APC as GBP 2,610 or USD 3,655, and notes that additional taxes may apply. The Press states that no author will face a financial barrier to publication, and points to funding routes including equity initiatives and APC waivers and discounts. Authors should check the fees and pricing page and whether their own institution has an agreement with Cambridge before submitting.

The deadline for submissions is 1 December 2026. Papers will be published on an ongoing basis as soon as they are ready, with publication of the themed issue expected to begin on 30 June 2027.