Lucy Cavendish Fellow and Director of Studies in LLM & MCL to chair Climate Law and Public Policy Conference, in preparation for COP26

The Paris Agreement charts a new course in the global effort to address climate change. For progressively more ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions to the global response to climate change, countries need specific domestic legal and public policy reforms to reduce emissions and adapt to the effects of climate change on all levels, and to change the direction of financial flows. Non-Party stakeholders are also invited to scale up their efforts. Since COP22, the Marrakesh Partnership has focused these efforts through the UNFCCC Race to Zero campaign. In the lead-up to COP26 in November 2021 in Glasgow, UK, the UNFCCC High Level Climate Champions have focused on scaling up efforts by financial institutions and the corporates they invest in, among many other actors across society. 

This international conference on Climate Change, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Law in the University of Cambridge on 29-30 October 2021 (and online), in the week preceding COP26, is co-hosted by partners from the University of Glasgow and the University of Strathclyde, and will feature keynotes and experts plenary with leading practitioners, researchers and academics in law, climate change, economics, politics, land economy, development studies and beyond, also a special Climate Law in Practice career mentorship plenary for practitioners and students. The conference will also see awards distributed for Best Paper, Best Poster, and Best Online Presentation. 

The conference is chaired by Lucy Cavendish Fellow and Director of Studies in LLM & MCL Dr Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger. Many of our associates, law graduates (including past and incoming PhDs and LLMs) and international law tripos students are helping to organise this fantastic event.

Dr Maria Antonieta "Antoinette" Nestor, Lucy’s postdoctoral Research Associate in law and a coordinator of the conference, comments: “This academic and public law conference will bring together a consortium of partners within the University and beyond. By developing and exploring the links between law, policy, environment, development and climate change this conference will certainly provide food for thought to those interested in learning about COP26, the Paris Agreement implementation or to those seeking to develop scholarly networks for the SDGs across the globe.” Dr Nestor wil co-chair a session on Climate repair on day two of the conference.

Our student Fabiana Piccoli Araújo Santos (Master of Law) who will be helping coordinate rapporteurs says: “It is time to look at every sphere of our lives through sustainability lenses. ‘Climate Change, the SDGs and the Law Conference’ will gather the top minds in the field of international law, public policy, governance and the environment. It will lay out a system for these minds to interact (through panels and presentations), to expand their knowledge about the most current climate issues and to bring about hands-on solutions to the world. It is an honour to be part of the Conference team, and I can assure it will be an extremely enriching event”

Six key themes in this exciting event link global COP26 debates, local climate action, law and public policy innovation:

• Advancing Paris Agreement Innovations
• Scaling-up Domestic Climate Legal Frameworks for Action
• Mainstreaming Climate Action through Governance & EngagementScaling up Nature-Based Solutions for Mitigation & Resilience
• Incentivizing Climate-Positive Measures to Foster Ambition for Net Zero & Beyond
• Regulating New Climate Technologies & Carbon-Negative Development 

Please follow this link to register to participate either on-line or in-person in this exciting Climate Law and Public Policy Conference, or check online here for more information, including the full programme.

Photo by Petmal on Canva.