Press Release with Interviews on Offer | UNFCCC COP30
Climate Law and Governance Initiative (CLGI) 2025 – Highlights & Outcomes Statement
UNFCCC COP30, Belem, Brazil
20 November 2025
The 30th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP30), which began on 10 November 2025 in Belem, Brazil must succeed in advancing the scale and pace of global response to climate change. Indeed, according to the WMO, each of the past eleven years (2015–2025) ranks among the hottest ever recorded, with the last three years standing as the highest temperatures on record. Furthermore, according to the IPCC, an estimated 3.3 to 3.6 billion people live in contexts that are highly vulnerable to climate change, and sustaining global biodiversity and ecosystem-service resilience will require the effective and equitable conservation of roughly 30% to 50% of Earth’s land, freshwater, and ocean areas, including near-natural ecosystems. Now, more than ever, in the context of emerging guidance from the International Court of Justice and other important courts and tribunals, effective law and public policy is needed for implementation of and compliance with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, towards more sustainable development worldwide.
With over 50,000 Party delegates and observers meeting for COP30 from 10 November to 21 November 2025, a special opportunity arose to increase ambition, harness the knowledge and engagement of the climate law and governance community, share innovations and good practices, and strengthen networks and capacity for ambitious climate action. As a consortium of over 200 experts and partners from international organisations, universities, law and governance institutes, governments, bar associations, judiciaries, civil society and practice, founded in 2005 during the UNFCCC COP11 in Montreal and crystalized in UNFCCC COP21 in Paris, the CLGI seeks to collectively contribute to implementing the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement by strengthening climate law and governance knowledge, engagement and capacity on all levels, worldwide.
CLIMATE LAW AND GOVERNANCE DAY 2025
On Friday, 14 November 2025, over 3,300 world-class judges, government and inter-governmental officials, law and public policy leaders and practitioners from more than 120 countries came together in Belem, in Rio de Janeiro and online, through the Climate Law and Governance Initiative (CLGI). Engaging participants from key climate vulnerable countries and the world (including 276 from Nigeria, 239 from Kenya, 142 from Bangladesh, 141 from India, 111 from Ghana), Climate Law Governance Day 2025 (CLGD 2025) was co-hosted by leaders and experts from the University of Caxias do Sul (UCS), the Federal University of Para (UFPA), the FGV Law Rio in Brazil and the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, together with the International Law Association, the International Bar Association, the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL), leading international financial institutions and inter-governmental organisations and over 200 other partners. This full-day global symposium focused on the following four key themes:
- Operationalising the Paris Agreement at 10 years
- Scaling up National Climate Ambition and Action through Law and Governance
- Advancing Climate Justice
- Deploying the Law and Legal Instruments for Investing in Just Transition
CLGD 2025 featured a grand opening, three high-level plenaries, and twelve substantive experts sessions addressing a wide range of pressing climate law and governance challenges and solutions. Three high-level plenaries with distinguished keynotes addressed:
- Adjudicating State Obligations on Climate Change, with inspiring keynotes from insightful judges of the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, whose advisory opinions on climate change are shaping regulations and jurisprudence worldwide.
- Ten Years from the Paris Agreement: MDBs’ Sui Generis Mutirão-Stocktaking, Reflecting and Strategizing, with brilliant keynotes from General Counsels of EBRD, ADB, AIIB, AfDB, and IFAD.
- Climate Law in Practice, with excellent interventions from world-leading law firms, climate law practitioners and the CLGI Global Leadership Award laureates.
Country nodes were hosted thanks to Asian Development Bank engagement in Gujarat National Law University, India and the University of Philippines among others, with participation of over 200 experts and students in each node. To see the Full Programme for CLGD 2025, please click here.
KEY OUTCOMES FROM CLGD 2025
Twelve substantive experts sessions, practitioners roundtable and participatory workshops were conducted by several partner organisations addressing a wide range of pressing climate law and governance challenges and solutions including international climate law, forests and land-use, climate justice, capacity building, climate finance, indigenous communities, just transition, adjudicating climate disputes and other topics. Throughout a remarkable programme, more than 150 legal leaders and experts shared progress from the last year towards the implementation of the Paris Agreement, highlighting new tools and commitments for global cooperation. To name but a few highlights:
- in the ‘Ten Years from the Paris Agreement: MDBs’ Sui Generis Mutirão – Stocktaking, Reflecting and Strategizing’ High- Level Plenary, General Counsels (GCs) of five multilateral development banks (MDBs) – European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Asian Development Bank (ADB), African Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and IFAD – came together, co-hosted by EBRD and ADB. The General Counsels shared each institution’s achievements on Paris Alignment, mobilizing climate finance and supporting the green transition, while reaffirming their commitment to deepen MDB collaboration to increase the impact and scale of their work to tackle climate change;
- a new volume on ‘Climate Law, Disasters and Litigation’, edited by Prof Alessandra Lehmen and the University of Caxias do Sul, was launched;
- in the ‘Building Capacity for Climate Governance and NDC Implementation’ legal roundtable, leaders and experts from DemEd Global, Univ of Cambridge and CISDL released their first-ever Global Sustainability and Justice Impact Report, sharing insights from the online training and engagement of over 12,000 current and future law and policy leaders from more than 140 countries;
- in the ‘Building Capacity for Climate Governance and NDC Implementation’ session, experts from the Centre for Climate Engagement at Hughes Hall in the University of Cambridge launched the Law and Climate Atlas for Brazil;
- in the ‘Enabling Climate and Nature Finance for Resilient Futures – From Law to Leverage’ legal experts and practitioners roundtable, experts from OECD launched two reports – Corporate Governance Factbook 2025 and Corporate Sustainability Report 2025. Experts from ADB also highlighted the ‘Model Forest Act Initiative: A Global Partnership to Improve the Legal Protection of Native Forests’, aimed to create a legal toolkit to support conservation and sustainable management of vital ecosystems and help tackle urgent challenges like climate change;
- in the ‘Leveraging National Legal Frameworks for Just Transition’ legal roundtable, experts from World Bank and UNDP launched the report ‘Legal Foundations for Just Transitions: Strengthening National Frameworks for Development’; and
- in the ‘Assessing the Implications of the ICJ and Other Climate Advisory Opinions for the Private Sector’ session, IBA Bar Issues Commission announced the formation of a new Climate Change Working Group. 30% Club Brazil also launched a report on ESG and Gender Balance in Brazilian publicly-traded companies; and
- in the ‘Climate Law in Practice’ Closing Plenary, leading climate law practitioners, law firms and chambers emphasized efforts to expand access to climate legal education, translate the Paris Agreement into real-world practice, and inspire the next generation of lawyers needed to advance this essential work.
The CLGI community also celebrated two moments of increased legal climate capacity:
- Advancing beyond the CLGI pledge from Glasgow COP26 to grow the climate law and governance community worldwide tenfold from 600 to 6,000+ legal and governance specialists, CLGI celebrated 7,200+ Climate Law Specialists signed on to the Climate Law and Governance Capacity Registry.
- Building on efforts to democratise education for global sustainability and justice by strengthening legal capacity through online courses and engagement, experts from DemEd Global and CISDL celebrated the new Climate Resilience Natural Resources Sustainability and the Law in Africa regional specialisation course with thanks to Mastercard Foundation, and the new Climate Finance and Carbon Markets for Government Lawyers in Asia and the Pacific regional specialisation course in partnership with ADB.
CLIMATE LAW & GOVERNANCE EVENTS AT COP30
- On 17 November 2025, CLGI and Sierra Leone government hosted a panel discussion on ‘Strengthening Legal & Public Policy Capacity in the face of Climate Change for Sierra Leone, Africa and the world’ at the Sierra Leone Pavilion, Blue Zone. The side event featured keynote speech from E. Jiwoh Abdulai (Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Government of Sierra Leone), co-chaired by Dr Gabriel Kpaka (Deputy Director General and Head of Operations, Sierra Leone Meteorological Agency) with highlights from passionate African alumni.
- On 17 November 2025, CLGI hosted an official side-event on ‘Climate Law and Governance Capacity: Delivering Climate Justice from Baku to Belém’ in the Blue Zone. The side event’s interactive legal roundtables brought together leading experts from CISDL, Rio Grande do Sul State Chapter of the Brazilian Bar, Hassan II International Center for Environmental Training, Centre for Climate Justice- Bangladesh, Centre for Human Rights and Climate Change Research, Global Choices, and Univ of Oslo.
CLIMATE LAW AND GOVERNANCE SPECIALISATION COURSE IN THE AMAZON
To train a new generation of climate specialists capable of advancing climate law and governance and advocating for implementation, CLGI hosted a Climate Law and Governance Specialisation Course in Belem during COP30. More than 600 learners from 86 countries registered for this course in-person and online. Over 300 learners were certified online and in-person at the Univ Federal do Pará (UFPA) Faculty of Law, Belem. The course also ensured capacity building for Delegates and Observers from climate vulnerable countries, including Sierra Leone, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Liberia, Morocco and the world.
The specialisation course, chaired by Prof Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger WIJA (CLGI Exec Sec & Senior Director, CISDL /Sustainable Development Law & Policy Chair, Univ Cambridge) & Prof João Daniel Macedo Sá (Coord, Post-Graduate Program in Law PPGD – Univ Fed do Para UFPA), focused on strengthening capacity for climate law and governance. It provided a foundational understanding of the Paris Agreement under the UNFCCC and included sessions on Law, Governance & Climate Mitigation; Climate Law & Governance on Adaptation, Loss and Damage; and Climate Law & Governance on Finance, Compliance &Transparency. The course featured keynotes and lectures by leading global professors and experts, including Adv Ayman Cherkaoui (Lead Counsel, CISDL / Director, Hassan II Intl Centre for Enviro Training); Prof Markus Gehring (Lead Counsel, CISDL /Assoc Prof, Univ Cambridge); Adv Hafijul Islam Khan (Director, Centre for Climate Justice, Bangladesh); Prof Alessandra Lehmen (President, Enviro Law Commission, OAB/RS / Member, Brazilian Bar Federal Climate Change Commission).
Three breakout sessions, led by experts, allowed participants to share country experiences and analyse climate law and policy approaches with colleagues from around the world. The participants who attended in-person and online participants who successfully passed the post-course assessment were awarded a Climate Law and Governance Certification and were invited to join the Climate Law and Governance Capacity Registry.
REFLECTIONS ON CLGI
Prof. Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger WIJA (CLGI Exec Sec & Senior Director, CISDL / Sustainable Development Law & Policy Chair, Univ Cambridge): “We are facing the justice challenge of our century, and efforts are not yet on track for mitigation, for adaptation and resilience, and for the finance necessary to prevent disaster. We must all scale up our contributions exponentially. The law can be a sword or a powerful shield for climate justice if we bridge the current capacity chasm. With over 7,200 law and policy specialists answering our call, smashing the Glasgow COP26 Climate Law Capacity Registry Pledge, and over 3,300 registrants for CLGD 2025, we are inspired to triple our efforts. It is a special honour to announce more courses and tools for highly climate-vulnerable countries, opening access to online education for global sustainability and justice.”
The Climate Law and Governance Initiative would like to thank all the session chairs, speakers, and volunteers whose extraordinary efforts and expertise made CLGI’s COP30 such a success. CLGI would like to especially extend its deepest gratitude to the Univ de Caxias do Sul (UCS), the Federal Univ of Para (UFPA), the FGV Law Rio in Brazil and the Univ of Cambridge for co-hosting this year’s Climate Law and Governance Day and the Climate Law and Governance Specialisation Course.
For further details, please contact: Adv Tejas Rao (Senior Manager, CISDL) at tejas.rao@cisdl.org or Adv Himanshu Pabreja and Adv Railla Puno (CLGI Coordinators) at climatelawgovernance@cisdl.org
About the Climate Law and Governance Initiative (CLGI)
The Climate Law and Governance Initiative (CLGI) is a global partnership of research institutions, international organisations, and expert networks working to strengthen climate law, governance, and capacity worldwide. Co-ordinated by the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL) with leading university and intergovernmental partners, CLGI supports countries and stakeholders in advancing legal and institutional frameworks that help implement the Paris Agreement. The Initiative convenes the annual Climate Law and Governance Day during UNFCCC COPs, delivers capacity-building sessions, and provides open-access knowledge resources to support effective, fair, and ambitious climate action.