Earth Refuge

What Earth Refuge does

Earth Refuge is a nonprofit legal think tank founded in 2020 by Yumna Kamel and Stephanie Hader, operating as an Advocate in Residence project of Just Atonement Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit headquartered in San Francisco. The organisation is positioned as the first legal think tank dedicated to climate migrants and operates across three pillars — Public Legal Education, Research, and Arts & Culture — serving legal practitioners, academics, policymakers, civil society organisations, and climate-affected communities globally.

The portfolio of programmes includes the Climate Mobility & Legal Innovation Programme (CLIP), a four-week online legal education course priced at $1,000 USD per participant and capped at 45 per cohort; the open-source Climate Mobility Case Database co-developed with global-council.org, which maps the full lifecycle of climate displacement cases; beginner-friendly online workshops on legal rights and climate migration; community-informed legal toolkits and field research (including ongoing work in Hemsby, UK); the Faces testimonials hub and Riskland, a bilingual three-part podcast series; and Our Shared Futures, a UK-wide climate and migration community film festival co-produced in 2025 with Counterpoints Arts. Underlying technology is a WordPress-based web platform, podcast distribution on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and the structured case database at global-council.org — no proprietary AI/ML systems are disclosed.

Revenue mechanics are limited to two streams: donations processed via Stripe and CLIP participant fees. The organisation operates with a lean team anchored by two co-founders and a global advisory network that includes a former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN special rapporteurs, and leading climate mobility scholars. Distribution is digital-first through earthrefuge.org, Zoom-delivered training, social channels (Instagram, LinkedIn), and event-based convenings including COP climate conferences. Go-to-market is event-driven and community-led rather than commercial sales, with CLIP delivered in partnership with UNHCR, the Refugee Law Initiative, Pace Haub Environmental Law, UC Berkeley Human Rights Centre, ICAAD, and Beyond Climate Collaborative.

Name

Earth Refuge

Legal name

Earth Refuge, a service of Just Atonement Inc.

Website

https://earthrefuge.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Earth Refuge is a nonprofit legal think tank founded in 2020 that delivers climate-displacement legal education, research, and cultural programming to lawyers, academics, policymakers, civil society, and climate-affected communities globally, operating under Just Atonement Inc.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Legal Think Tank / Climate Migration Advocacy

NAICS

Environment, Conservation and Wildlife Organizations (813312), Human Rights Organizations (813311)

akta.pro primary industry

Environmental Education & Outreach (BPAGAGAH)

akta.pro secondary industry

Environmental Justice & Community Environmental Health (BPAGAGAL)

Keywords

• Climate displacement law
• Legal think tank
• Climate migration advocacy
• Nonprofit legal education
• Human rights research

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Donations: Earth Refuge is a nonprofit organization operating as an Advocate in Residence project with Just Atonement Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit. It accepts donations through Stripe.
2. Programme Fees: The Climate Mobility & Legal Innovation Programme (CLIP) charges $1,000 USD per participant. Financial assistance/sponsorship is available for eligible applicants from climate-vulnerable regions and the Global South.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Earth Refuge is a nonprofit legal think tank that develops and delivers legal education programmes (notably the Climate Mobility & Legal Innovation Programme/CLIP for legal practitioners), an open-source Climate Mobility Case Database, public legal education workshops, community-informed research and legal toolkits, and cultural programming (the Riskland podcast, Faces testimonials, Our Shared Futures film festival). All offerings are designed to advance rights-based legal protections for people displaced by climate change, disasters, and environmental degradation.

Product overview

Earth Refuge is the planet's first legal think tank dedicated to climate migrants, operating as a non-profit organization under Just Atonement Inc. Rather than a unified software product, it offers a portfolio of interconnected programmes: the Climate Mobility & Legal Innovation Programme (CLIP) for practitioner education; the open-source Climate Mobility Case Database for legal research; Public Legal Education Workshops for community learning; Research and Legal Toolkits for practitioners; the Faces Testimonials Hub and Riskland Podcast for storytelling; and the Our Shared Futures Film Festival for cultural engagement. These offerings are unified by their focus on merging community testimonies with legal insights to generate accessible, community-driven solutions to climate migration through three pillars: Public Legal Education, Research, and Arts & Culture.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Climate Mobility & Legal Innovation Programme (CLIP) An intensive four-week online legal education programme equipping lawyers, judges, academics, and advocates with practical tools to develop solutions-driven legal strategies at the intersection of climate change and human mobility. Features expert presentations, interactive seminars, and cross-jurisdictional strategy work.
• Climate Mobility Case Database An open-source database tracking legal decisions related to climate mobility, designed to share knowledge and strengthen advocacy worldwide. Maps the full lifecycle of climate displacement cases from client intake and evidence gathering to rights-based legal strategy and enforcement pathways.
• Public Legal Education Workshops Accessible resources, strategic convenings, and community-centred workshops that make the growing field of climate displacement law more understandable and usable for legal practitioners and non-practitioners alike.
• Research and Legal Toolkits Community-informed research initiatives including legal toolkits mapping the full lifecycle of climate displacement cases, from client intake and evidence gathering to rights-based legal strategy and enforcement pathways, alongside field research with frontline communities such as Hemsby on the Norfolk coast.
• Riskland: An Earth Refuge Original Podcast A bilingual three-part podcast series telling stories from communities at the edge of disaster in rural Ecuador, exploring cyclical flooding impacts and the human experience of climate-related displacement. Available in English and Spanish on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
• Faces Testimonials Hub A testimonials hub featuring interviews with individuals from communities impacted by climate-induced displacement, experts in the field, and allies on the front lines. Includes Earth Refuge Original Podcasts available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.
• Archive A collection of academic papers, articles, book reviews, field reports, webinars, and think pieces documenting realities of climate migration, its causes, exacerbating factors, and potential responses.
• Our Shared Futures Climate & Migration Community Film Festival The UK's first climate and migration community film festival, featuring over 300 screenings nationwide to create spaces where climate displacement can be felt, discussed, and reimagined through storytelling and shared experience.

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• Beyond Climate CollaborativecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 February 2026Co-host of the Climate Mobility & Legal Innovation Programme (CLIP). Beyond Climate Collaborative operates the Climate Mobility Justice Academy and the International School on Climate Mobilities. Lauren Grant serves as Climate Mobility Programme Lead.
• Just Atonement Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEarth Refuge is an Advocate in Residence project with Just Atonement Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in San Francisco. Just Atonement Inc. is a non-profit law firm dedicated to defending democracy, human rights, and a livable planet. Dave Inder Comar serves as Executive Director of Just Atonement Inc.
• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerOfficial partner in the Climate Mobility & Legal Innovation Programme (CLIP), bringing UN protection expertise to the practitioner training programme.
• Refugee Law Initiative (RLI)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with the Refugee Law Initiative at the School of Advanced Study, University of London for CLIP programme delivery.
• Pace University Haub Environmental Law ProgramflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Pace University's Elisabeth Haub School of Law for CLIP programme delivery, contributing environmental law expertise.
• Human Rights Centre at UC BerkeleyflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with UC Berkeley's Human Rights Centre for CLIP programme delivery, providing human rights law expertise.
• International Center for Advocates Against Discrimination (ICAAD)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with ICAAD for CLIP programme, contributing expertise on advocacy against discrimination in climate mobility contexts.
• Counterpoints ArtscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-production partner for Our Shared Futures - the UK's first climate and migration community film festival with 300+ screenings nationwide in 2025.
• Climate & Migrant Justice Organising Group (CMJ)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in the Our Shared Futures community film festival collaboration.
• Global Center for Climate JusticeminorOthersYumna Kamel serves on the advisory boards of the Global Center for Climate Justice.
• Dhaqan CollectiveminorOthersYumna Kamel serves on the advisory boards of Dhaqan Collective.
• Global-Council.org (Climate Mobility Case Database)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEarth Refuge contributes to the open-source Climate Mobility Case Database, supporting civil society and practitioners in building the evolving field of climate mobility law.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Migration Policy Institute: A leading think tank analyzing migration policies at global, regional, and national levels. Comparable to Earth Refuge through research-driven policy influence on migration, but operates at a much larger scale and with broader migration scope rather than climate-specific displacement.
• Refugees International: A major advocacy and policy organization working on refugee and displacement issues globally. Comparable to Earth Refuge through advocacy and field-driven research on displacement, but operates at a much larger scale and with broader (not climate-specific) displacement scope.
• Sabin Center for Climate Change Law: Columbia Law School's hub for climate law research, litigation support, and practitioner training. Comparable to Earth Refuge through its focus on legal innovation at the climate/rights intersection, but operates at a much larger academic scale with a broader climate law remit beyond displacement.
• Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment: LSE-based research institute producing world-leading analysis on climate change law, policy, and finance. Comparable to Earth Refuge through its practitioner-facing research outputs and policy convening power, though it operates with a much larger academic footprint and broader climate remit.

Direct peers

• Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC): The global source of data and analysis on internal displacement, including disaster- and climate-driven flows. Directly comparable to Earth Refuge as both build the evidence and legal-knowledge base for practitioners responding to displacement, though IDMC is significantly larger and data-focused rather than legal-practice-focused.
• Environmental Justice Foundation: An international environmental and human rights nonprofit campaigning on climate, oceans, and supply-chain issues. Comparable to Earth Refuge through its blending of frontline community testimony with rights-based advocacy and field research, though EJF operates with a broader environmental and supply-chain focus.
• Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD): An intergovernmental initiative advancing policy, knowledge, and tools on disaster-related displacement. Directly comparable to Earth Refuge as both operate at the policy/practitioner interface on climate displacement and engage UN bodies, governments, and civil society in building legal and operational responses.
• Climate Law & Policy Project: A nonprofit focused on building legal and policy frameworks for climate action across jurisdictions. Comparable to Earth Refuge through its emphasis on practitioner training and rights-based legal innovation on climate issues, with overlapping advisory and partner networks.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/earthrefuge
• Instagraminstagram.com/earthrefuge

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Earth Refuge