V.ALUM 2023
Leading thinking in international climate law It’s a hot-button topic of critical importance to the liveability of the planet, and a Te Herenga Waka— Victoria University of Wellington doctoral student is at the forefront of potentially world-changing research into the laws around carbon credits and international net zero ambitions.
Injy Johnstone has just handed in her PhD in International Environmental Law, focusing on net zero-aligned offsetting. Her research conceives net zero as a source of new legal norms and delves into their substance, including how they can promote the environmental integrity of carbon markets. Injy gained an LLM in Environmental and Energy Law as a Fulbright scholar from the University of Colorado Boulder, and also holds an LLB(Hons) from Te Herenga Waka and a BSc in Physical Geography and Economics from the University of Otago. Currently based in the United Kingdom, Injy is working to establish a new research programme within the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group, focused on the emerging area of net zero regulation. “This is a spin-out from one aspect of my PhD, which looked at the environmental integrity of carbon
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markets—specifically, it seeks to operationalise net zero-aligned offsetting out in the wider world. This involves talking to corporates as well as governments and carboncredit platforms, to design the institutional rules and regulations around appropriate offsetting strategies, and ensure they have environmental integrity.” Injy has worked with and advised a range of public, private, and third-sector entities, including Oxford Net Zero, the Global Center on Adaptation, UNESCO, and the UN Major Group for Children and Youth. While at New Zealand’s Ministry for the Environment, she was the project administrator for New Zealand’s Zero Carbon Act. In 2022, she ran a project entitled ‘Net-Zero New Zealand’ to conceive net zero norm development on a community level with help from a Jeremy Bloomfield Scholarship from Te Herenga Waka.
