Dr Gianluca Grimalda writes about the legal struggle that ensued when he refused to fly for his academic work.
Responsible Science blog; published 6 March 2025.
It’s been a very long year for me. When, on 27 September 2023, I received the invitation to attend an apparently normal work videocall, I would have not expected to become, within a week, the first employee to be fired for his refusal to take a plane in order to reduce his carbon emissions.
I was at the end of my fourth fieldwork visit in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, where I was studying societal adaptation to climate change and market integration. I had been slow-travelling for about 13 years before, inspired by the ‘Climate Train’ journey made by Scientists for Global Responsibility (and other campaigners) when travelling from Europe to Kyoto in Japan for the COP3 climate negotiations in 1997. I’ve calculated that my journey by land and sea, as opposed to taking a plane, reduced my emissions by approximately 90%. I was extremely grateful to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW), based in north Germany, to have approved 31 research-related trips for a total of 261 days during the 10 years I had been working with them. In the videocall, the IfW President requested me to return in 5 days or be fired. I knew that my fieldwork had suffered a massive delay, due to circumstances totally outside my responsibility, like armed robberies, volcano activity, and other logistical delays. I could fully understand that, according to the original travel plan, I should have been in Germany at that time. However, I knew that my presence there was not required. I didn’t teach, and all our departmental meetings took place online. There was nothing I would have done in Kiel that I couldn’t have done while travelling.
For that reason, my conscience as a citizen aware of possible imminent climate breakdown said I could not agree to that request. I need to do all that I can to avert climate collapse. Already slow-travelling to Papua, emitting about 500kg of CO2, was something I didn’t take lightly. When I communicated my decision to the Institute and to the public, I had no idea what kind of impact my action would have. Some journalists told me no one would have taken any notice. Not a single friend or colleague told me I was doing the right thing. Even so, I remained convinced my action was justified. This is also what I had promised to all the thousands of people I had met in the 30 villages I visited for my research. These people are already suffering because of climate change. Some of the first people labelled as climate refugees, the inhabitants of the Carteret islands, are from this area. All coastal communities had to relocate inland because of sea level rise (partly caused by climate change and partly by tectonic movements). All residents said that food is getting scarcer because of global heating and the dry season getting longer. About two thirds of Bougainville residents are classified as ‘food insecure’, according to the definition of the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization. I did not want to break my promise to the people that I would do all I could to alleviate their suffering.
In January 2025, after more than a year of legal battles, I obtained the legal recognition that my contract termination, in the way it happened, was unlawful. After my first appeal at the Regional Labour Court was rejected in February 2024, I accepted the settlement proposed by the Court in the second appeal. The settlement stipulates that the contract was terminated because of incompatible ideological convictions, rather than for a breach of contract from my side. Ultimately, this means that the dismissal for my refusal to take a plane was not justified. In the words of Jörn Broschat, the lawyer who would have defended me for free in case of defeat, “this legal case was a milestone in the emerging discussion about the rights of employees to stand up for their climate principles as part of their professional obligations”. In my view, this is the first step on the way to obtaining legal recognition of climate-based conscientious objection. It’s not the final step, but hopefully my case will inspire more employees, institutions and companies to actively support the rapid transition from fossil fuel-based economies to decarbonised and people-centred societies.
In view of the strained relationship with my employer if the employment relationship were to continue, I agreed to a severance payment from IfW. The exact amount cannot be disclosed due to a confidentiality agreement, but I intend to donate part of the payout to environmental protection and climate activism organisations.
Overall, I feel proud of what I have achieved. I must say that the protracted period of unemployment since I was fired left me anxious that my academic career was over. Many of my job applications were rejected. However, recently, I received some offers so I will take up a new position in January 2026. In the meantime, I have funding to travel to Bougainville again, to complete the research started in previous fieldwork. I am happy I am able to keep my promise to the local communities that I will share with them what we have learned about adaptation to climate change.
Images by Gianluca Grimalda: travelling by cargo ship, and teaching in a secondary school in Bougainville.
Dr Gianluca Grimalda is a researcher in experimental social sciences interested in understanding how people cooperate and react to climate change and globalisation.
If you want to contribute to his work and related expenses, see: https://ko-fi.com/ggrimalda
If you want to know more about his journey, the film director Paolo Casalis has made a documentary about it, available for download and streaming here: https://www.produzionifuorifuoco.it/portfolio_researcher.html
All the scenes in the movie were shot by Dr Grimalda (or friends) with his mobile phone and a gimbal. He forfeited all royalties to the film director in order to have the opportunity to talk about climate change to a wider audience.
