Registration details for the upcoming 2026 Climate Law and Governance Day will be posted closer to COP 31
past Climate Law and Governance Day Reports
Climate Law and Governance Day 2025 was held on Friday, 14 November 2025, during COP30 in Belém, Brazil, under the theme “The Paris Agreement at 10 – Advancing Climate Courage, Contributions and Compliance.” The event brought together leading climate law and governance experts, practitioners, policymakers, judges, negotiators, academics, and civil society representatives to explore how legal and institutional innovation can strengthen climate action and accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement.
Co-hosted by Universidade de Caxias do Sul, the Federal University of Pará, FGV Law Rio, the University of Cambridge, and other international partners, the symposium featured high-level plenaries, specialist panels, workshops, roundtables, and launch events. Discussions focused on advancing climate ambition, strengthening compliance and accountability, mobilising climate finance, supporting just transitions, and protecting the rights of vulnerable communities.
The 2025 symposium centred on four key themes: operationalising the Paris Agreement at its ten-year mark; scaling up national climate ambition and action through law and governance; advancing climate justice; and deploying legal instruments to support investment in a just transition.
Climate Law and Governance Day 2024
Climate Law and Governance Day 2024 was held on Friday, 15 November 2024, during COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The full-day global symposium brought together leading climate law and governance experts, legal practitioners, policymakers, judges, negotiators, academics, students, and civil society stakeholders to explore how law and governance can support the implementation of the Paris Agreement and strengthen global climate action.
Held entirely online via Zoom to encourage wider global participation, CLGD 2024 featured high-level plenaries, launch events, and more than 12 specialist panels and workshops. The symposium focused on advancing legal and institutional reforms needed to support current Nationally Determined Contributions, respond to Global Stocktake outcomes, increase ambition for future NDCs, and promote collaboration across the climate law and governance community.
The 2024 symposium centred on four key themes: operationalising the Paris Agreement; scaling up national climate ambition and action through law and governance; advancing climate justice; and deploying law and legal instruments to support investment in transition.
Climate Law and Governance Day 2023 was held on Tuesday, 5 December 2023, during COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, under the theme “Engaging in Global Stocktake through Legal Lenses.” The event took place in person at Middlesex University Dubai and online, bringing together climate law and governance experts, legal practitioners, academics, judges, policymakers, students, civil society representatives, and institutional leaders from around the world.
The symposium highlighted the vital role of law in responding to the climate crisis, strengthening environmental governance, advancing climate justice, and supporting countries in building resilient legal and institutional frameworks. Discussions emphasized the need for collaboration across law associations, universities, law firms, international organisations, and public institutions to accelerate legal reform and support a just transition.
Key sessions focused on legal progress under the Paris Agreement, climate litigation, climate finance, technology transfer, climate competent lawyering, rights of future generations, clean energy transition, climate governance integrity, anti-greenwashing regulation, sustainable procurement, and legal pathways for climate adaptation and mitigation.