Environmental law and sustainability, especially regulation, governance, justice and Indigenous aspects of climate and low-carbon transition, renewable energy and sustainable finance agendas 

Inpired by my Indigenous African (Yoruba) worldview and lived, legal practice and academic training and experiences in Nigeria, Canada and the United Kingdom, my work focuses on environmental law and sustainability. For close to a decade, I have focused more on three evolving, interwoven research threads on sociolegal conceptions (theoretical fields) of climate change and the transition to low-carbon societies, especially postmodern and indigenous justice, regulation, and governance aspects. I label them as follows: climate change and low-carbon transition implications, renewable and sustianable energy technologies, and sustainable public and private finance (substantive fields). So far, I have investigated topics under these threads through doctrinal legal analysis (the traditional method of interpreting and applying laws, focusing more on the understanding and enforcement of such laws through courts and less on the implications for the broader society), policy analysis, risk analysis, comparative analysis, case study analysis, participant observation, key informant participation and interviews (methods).

Also, I continue to contribute to the general thinking on environmental law and sustainability in energy and, increasingly, other sectors. I particularly consider making these contributions when opportunities arise to educate non-experts in environmental and development law and policy, including students, policymakers and business directors, executives and professionals. For instance, I have contributed to textbooks, policy and industry guides, and media publications. 

These threads of research have been supported by a variety of funders and benefited several organziations. Nigerian funders have included Oyo State Government and Human Dignity Foundation. Canadian funders have included the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Canada Climate Law Initiative, Liu Institute for Global Issues, Peter A. Allard School of Law and Real Property Association of Canada, and I have received funding from Law and Society Association and National Science Foundation in the United States. The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, the World Bank, United Nations agencies, the Group of Seven, the African Bar Association, Canadian federal and provincial governments, the Toronto Stock Exchange, the United Kingdom Parliament, the Central Bank of Malaysia, and other policy and business organizations have used my work in various ways. 

1. Climate Change and Low-carbon Transition Implications

My research on climate change and low-carbon transition impacts fills significant gaps in predominant climate policy thinking, which mostly focuses on using technologies, markets, and self-regulation to address climate and low-carbon transition challenges without paying much attention to the Indigenous and other marginalized communities, small businesses and developing countries that are disproportionately impacted. Using critical justice and decolonization theories, I consider such disproportionate impacts and how to address them. For instance, I have designed and led the “Re-Imagining Agenda 2063” project at Law and Society Association to understand what the constraints imposed by climate change, the net-zero agenda, biodiversity loss and other global challenges mean for sustainable development in Africa, especially on Indigenous communities there, and have explored "Indigenous Peoples in carbon pricing policymaking" in a leading interdisciplinary journal, Environmental Science & Policy. 

II. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Technologies 

I produce knowledge on the laws and policies that support the integration of sustainable, low-carbon transition technologies into markets and other social systems. For instance, I pioneered the idea of "Hybrid renewable energy support policy," published in a top interdisciplinary journal, Energy Policy, and my Ph.D. builds on this idea to create a novel theory of hybrid regulation of low-carbon economies, emphasizing how to advance renewable energy while reducing consumption of natural resources.

III. Sustainable Public and Private Finance

I investigate government and business sources of finance for low-carbon societies and how to regulate them. For instance, I have studied the regulation and governance of sources such as tariffs, taxes, royalties, subsidies, sovereign wealth funds, natural resource funds, and multilateral climate funds, including their promise in developed and developing countries. Another important aspect of my work under this thread is the regulation and governance of sustainable finance sources. Such sources can only enhance the transition to low-carbon societies with proper government regulation and corporate and financial governance. Therefore, I also research the legal duties (fiduciary, contractual, tortious, voluntary and others) of regulators, corporate directors, and executives, and professionals in managing these sources (fiduciary and non-fiduciary), and the effective policy and corporate governance practices to enhance their work. My most influential contributions under this thread are reports that have been used by numerous governemnts, industries and intergovernemntal organizations. These are: a climate governance guide for Canada's real estate industry, titled "A Guide to Effective Climate Governance in the Canadian Commercial Real Estate Sector: Building for the Net-Zero Future; a national report on "Fossil Fuel Subsidies in Canada: Governance Implications in the Net-Zero Transition"; and a global report titled "The Emergence of Foreseeable Biodiversity-related Liability Risks for Financial Institutions: A Gathering Storm?"

4. Environmental protection and sustainable development 

My general environmental protection and sustainable development thread is a general cover for other topics that interest me but do not fit neatly under my three main research threads. For instance, I previously wrote “Environmental Law in Africa’s Non-renewable Extractive Sectors” and “Legal and Administrative Remedies in Environmental Law in Nigeria: Reform Proposition.”