Climate Law & Governance Day 2024

Climate Law and Governance Day 2024 

Friday, 15 November 2024  

During the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP29 

ONLINE from Baku, Azerbaijan

For Registration, please visit: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/1021502701077?aff=oddtdtcreator

Climate law, policy and practice must be strengthened to reduce emissions and keep the world below 1.5°C warming; to foster adaptation and resilience for the adverse impacts of climate change; to foster low greenhouse gas emissions and sustainable development pathways; and to make finance flows consistent with a pathway towards sustainable development. 

Over 169 out of 186 countries stress the importance of legal and institutional reform in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the global response to climate change under the Paris Agreement. As over 60 countries also emphasize in their NDCs, exponential increases in law and governance capacity and practice on all levels are crucial for implementation and compliance. Climate finance in many forms, recognising the key roles of both private and public law, also public policy and governance at all levels in accelerating ambition, and in converting ambition to obligation, are also critical.  

As Paris Agreement representatives, observers and stakeholders gather in Baku for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 29^th Conference of the Parties (COP29) from 11 – 22 November 2024, Climate Law & Governance Day (CLGD) 2024 convenes a community of leading law faculties and law and governance institutes, international organization counsel, government authorities, law associations, judges, professionals and others responsible for inspiring, innovating and building law, policy and governance capacity. 

CLGD 2024 takes place entirely online on Friday, 15 November 2024 during the UNFCCC COP 29 in Baku, UAE. CLGD 2024 follows on key preparatory events, including consultations and a legal experts roundtable during the 60th session of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies in June 2024. 

CLGD 2024 provides an important opportunity to share ideas, debate trends and advances, and build legal momentum for climate action, building on the success of CLGD 2005 at McGill University during COP11 in Montreal, CLGD 2015 at La Sorbonne Law School during COP21 in Paris, CLGD 2016 at the Université Privée de Marrakech and Hassane I University during COP22 in Marrakech, CLGD 2017 with the University of the South Pacific at the University of Bonn during COP23 in Bonn, CLGD 2018 at the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland, CLGD 2019 with the University of Chile at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in Madrid, Spain, CLGD 2021 with the University of Cambridge, the University of Glasgow and the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, UK, and CLGD 2023 at Middlesex University Dubai during COP 28 with the University of Dubai and the University of Cambridge.

Climate Law & Governance Day 2024 Themes

Four key themes have been identified in consultation with the Climate Law & Governance Initiative (CLGI) Programme Committee based on the vision and goals to enhance ambition and enable action set by Azerbaijan as the UNFCCC COP29 Presidency, as informed by the UNFCCC 60th Subsidiary Bodies meetings in June 2024. Each theme is led by a CLGI Chair:

1. Operationalising the Paris Agreement: Contributing to the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG), Global Goal on Adaptation, Article 6 Market and Non-market Approaches, Article 9 Loss and Damage Fund, transparency, technology, capacity-building, through the UNFCCC/Paris Agreement implementation architecture (COP/SBs, global dialogues, expert groups, implementation and compliance committee), UNCLOS and other international regimes.
2. Scaling up National Climate Ambition and Action through Law and Governance: Innovating high ambition instruments for climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience, and finance; creating governance synergies within and across sectors; advancing local, regional and national carbon budgets, planning rules and regulations; assessing legal barriers and strengthening capacity amongst leaders, practitioners and advocates for NDCs/LTS delivery.
3. Advancing Climate Justice: Engaging civil society and the legal community, courts, law associations and others in raising climate ambition and accelerating climate action, enhancing transparency and ensuring accountability, integrating rights-based approaches, advancing loss and damage response, supporting access to climate justice and climate litigation, and addressing climate migration.
4. Deploying the Law and Legal Instruments for Investing in Transition: Harnessing law on all levels and commercial legal instruments to leverage the NCQG for mobilising all finance flows for investment in climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience; scaling up re-allocation of capital and sustainable global supply chains, and addressing fossil fuel subsidies, climate risk disclosure, a just transition and decarbonisation, especially through private, trade, investment and competition law, and through commercial and corporate rules.

Climate Law & Governance Day 2024 Objectives 

1. To inspire and optimize legal and institutional reform for achieving current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement, responding to 2024 Global Stocktake outcomes and increasing the ambition of the next round of NDCs
2. To identify and share innovative international, national, and local law and governance challenges, mechanisms and good practices relating to global efforts to address climate change.
3. To catalyse knowledge exchange and co-generate new climate law and governance scholarship, insights and approaches, facilitating new dialogue and partnerships.
4. To strengthen capacity and collaboration among the climate law and governance community of practice to implement the Doha Amendment, Paris Agreement and COP outcomes, supporting achievement of the world’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

Climate Law & Governance Initiative 2024 Venue

To reduce barriers and encourage global participation, this year’s Climate Law and Governance Day will be held entirely online via Zoom. Registration for the symposium is open, online through Eventbrite.

For the Outline Programme, please see below: