30 Years of Climate COPs: Reckoning with the Past, Rethinking the Future
24 - 25 September 2025
Geneva, Switzerland
365d
24h
60m
60s
About the Conference
Amb. Franz Perrez
Prof. Makane Moïse Mbengue
Prof. Nilufer Oral
Ms. Iga Joanna Józefiakr
Director of the Department of International Law and International Organization, University of Geneva
Director General of the Directorate of International Law at the Federal Office of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland; lecturer of international environmental law at the University of Bern School of Law
Director of the Centre for International Law, National University of Singapore
As the international community prepares for COP30, this conference offers a timely opportunity to reflect on the legacy and evolving role of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Over the past three decades, COPs have shaped the global climate regime—building frameworks, adopting legal instruments, responding to crises, and navigating political and scientific shifts. Today, this critical juncture provides a valuable moment for reflection: to take stock of how far the process has come, to examine the dynamics that have shaped its development, and to consider how it can evolve to better meet future challenges.
The conference features high-level keynotes, expert panels, and a closing roundtable on the broader implications of the COP process for international law and governance. It brings together diplomats, scholars, legal practitioners, and policymakers to engage in critical and forward-looking dialogue.
Held in Geneva, the event aims to honor the legacy of the COPs while shaping bold visions for their future.
Research Fellow in Climate Change & Policy
Speakers & Moderators
Ms. Christine Adam
Director and Principal Legal Adviser, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat
Christine Adam is Director and Principal Legal Adviser at the UNFCCC secretariat in Bonn. She oversees the provision of legal advice and support on substantive, procedural and election matters, to the Parties and bodies of the UNFCCC process, during the annual climate change conference and throughout the year. She provides strategic advice on legal matters to the senior management and divisions of the UNFCCC secretariat. Prior to joining the UNFCCC secretariat, Christine worked for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Geneva, where she was the Deputy and Acting Director of the Department of the Legal Affairs.Christine holds a law degree from the University of Potsdam, Germany, and also studied at the University of Granada, Spain. She published on a variety of subjects of law.
Prof. Laurence Boisson de Chazournes
University of Geneva
Laurence Boisson de Chazournes is an academic and a practitioner in the field of international law. Following her career as Senior Counsel to the World Bank (1995 - 1999), she has been a professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Geneva. A visiting professor in various universities, she held an annual Chair at the Collège de France in 2022-2023. She is a former President of the European Society of International Law and a Member of the Curatorium of the Hague Academy of International Law. She is recognized for her role as an advisor to states, international organizations and companies, as well as an arbitrator, counsel and advocate in various dispute settlement fora. She worked with the UNFCCC Secretariat in 1992-1993.
Prof. Martin Beniston
Honorary Professor, University of Geneva, Former Vice‑Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Martin Beniston is Honorary Professor at the University of Geneva and a leading expert in climate and atmospheric science. A former IPCC Vice-Chair and contributor to its Nobel Peace Prize-winning efforts, he has held academic positions at the Universities of Fribourg and Geneva, as well as research roles at ETH Zurich and the Max Planck Institute in Hamburg. He is featured in Reuters’ list of the world’s top 1000 most influential climate scientists. Now retired, he continues to contribute to international climate discourse and research.
Prof. Sarah Cassella
Université Paris Cité
Sarah Cassella is Professor of International Law at Université Paris Cité. She has published and edited several books and papers on the topics of international responsibility, situations of exception, and environmental and health risks. Her latest monograph is Global Risks and International Law. The Case of Climate Change and Pandemics, Leiden, Brill, 2024. She is deputy secretary general of the French Society for International Law and deputy treasurer of the French branch of the International Law Association.
Prof. Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger
University of Cambridge
Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger is Chair in Sustainable Development Law and Policy at the University of Cambridge and a world-leading expert on international law and governance for sustainable development. She serves as Senior Director of the CISDL, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC Climate Law & Governance Initiative, and has advised over 80 countries and UN bodies. Author and editor of over 26 books and 160 publications, she is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and recipient of the Weeramantry International Justice Award.
Prof. Malgosia Fitzmaurice
Queen Mary University of London
Malgosia Fitzmaurice holds the Chair of Public International Law at Queen Mary University of London and is a member of the Institut de Droit International. A leading authority on international environmental law, the law of treaties, and the rights of Indigenous peoples, she has authored major works including Treaties in Motion and Whaling and International Law. She has lectured at The Hague Academy and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the International Community Law Review. She currently advises the Republic of the Marshall Islands in the ICJ Advisory Opinion on climate change.
Mr. Sébastien Duyck
Senior Attorney and Human Rights & Climate Campaign Manager at Center for International Environmental Law
Sébastien Duyck is a Senior Attorney in the Climate & Energy Program at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and Campaign Manager for its Human Rights and Climate Change portfolio. He focuses on integrating human rights and public participation into international climate governance and co-facilitates the Human Rights and Climate Change Working Group. With degrees in international and environmental law from the Universities of Helsinki and Iceland, he has advised multiple global organizations and is a visiting researcher at the University of Lapland’s Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law.
Ms. Iga Józefiak
Research Fellow in Climate Change & Policy
Iga Józefiak is a Research Fellow in Climate Change & Policy based in Geneva, specializing in climate change adaptation, policy, and the science–policy interface within the global environmental governance. Her work focuses on supporting vulnerable communities, including Small Island Developing States and developing countries, in advancing climate resilience, justice and climate education. She collaborates with governments, UN bodies, and NGOs, and has contributed to global legal processes such as the ICJ Advisory Proceedings on Climate Change. An author of academic publications on climate law and policy, she also works in sustainable finance and ESG as a Senior Consultant at Ernst & Young in Switzerland, in the Climate Change & Sustainability Services team.
Prof. Ginevra Le Moli
European University Institute, Florence School of Regulation
Mr. Nicolas J.S. Lockhart
Partner at Sidley Austin LLP
Ginevra Le Moli is a Part-Time Professor of International Law at the European University Institute (EUI), Florence School of Regulation, based at the EUI’s Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies. She is also a Fellow at the Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Governance (C-EENRG), University of Cambridge, and co-Editor-in-Chief of the Review of European, Comparative and International Environmental Law (RECIEL). Her research focuses on the legal dimensions of global environmental change, human rights, global health, and international institutional law, combining doctrinal analysis with interdisciplinary perspectives. She has acted as a consultant, legal advisor, and co-counsel for States and international organizations in international proceedings before human rights bodies and the International Court of Justice. She is the author of Human Dignity in International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2022), which was awarded the 2023 Paul Guggenheim Prize.
Prof. Makane Moïse Mbengue
Director of the Department of International Law and International Organization, University of Geneva
Nic Lockhart is a partner at Sidley Austin LLP, advising governments and companies on international law and EU ESG regulation. He represented Antigua & Barbuda in the ICJ advisory proceedings on climate change, and the African Union in the ITLOS advisory proceedings on the same topic. He advises clients on ICAO’s rules on emissions from international aviation and on the IMO’s Net Zero Framework for international shipping. Under EU law, he counsels companies on transition plans, disclosures, and other communications regarding climate change. Recognized in Chambers Global and Europe (Band 1), Nic serves on the UK Attorney General’s “A” list of public international law counsel and teaches at the World Trade Institute of the University of Berne.
Prof. Damilola S. Olawuyi
Professor and UNESCO Chairholder on Environmental Law and Sustainable Development, Hamad Bin Khalifa University
Vice Chairperson, UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights.
Makane Moïse Mbengue is Professor of International Law and Director of the Department of International Law and International Organization at the University of Geneva, and Affiliate Professor at Sciences Po Paris. He serves as President of the African Society of International Law and advises numerous international organizations and governments. He has acted as counsel before the International Court of Justice and in investment disputes, and contributes to treaty negotiations across Africa. A widely published scholar, he also teaches in UN legal training programs and is recognized for his expertise in international environmental, economic, climate change, and human rights law.
Damilola S. Olawuyi is an international lawyer, professor, and policy adviser specialising in business and human rights, energy, natural resources, and environmental law. He serves as UNESCO Chairholder on Environmental Law and Sustainable Development at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar and is Director of the OGEES Institute in Nigeria. A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (KC) and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, he has advised on major energy and infrastructure projects globally. He sits on the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, and serves on boards including the International Law Association and the International Bar Association. His award-winning book Environmental Law in Arab States earned recognition from the American Society of International Law (ASIL) in 2023.
Prof. Nilufer Oral
Director of the Centre for International Law, National University of Singapore
Ms. Lydie-Line Paroz
Senior Policy Advisor, Federal Office for the Environment, Switzerland
Nilufer Oral is Director of the Centre for International Law at the National University of Singapore and a member of the UN International Law Commission (ILC), which she chaired during its 74th session. She co-chairs the ILC Study Group on sea-level rise and is a member of the Curatorium of The Hague Academy of International Law and the Institut de Droit International. A former legal advisor and climate negotiator for Türkiye, she serves on COSIS’s Committee of Legal Experts. She has published extensively on ocean law, environmental law, and climate change.
Amb. Franz Perrez
Director General of the Directorate of International Law at the Federal Office of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland; lecturer of international environmental law at the University of Bern School of Law.
Lydie-Line Paroz is a Senior Policy Advisor in the International Affairs Division of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), based in Bern. She previously served with the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations, the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, and the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI). Her work focuses on climate change, sustainability, and environmental policy, with extensive experience in multilateral environmental governance and international negotiations.
Prof. Francesco Sindico
Professor of International Environmental Law, University of Strathclyde Law School; Founder and Director of the Climate Change Legal Initiative (C2LI) and Co-Chair of the IUCN WCEL Climate Change Law Specialist Group
Franz Perrez is Switzerland’s Legal Advisor and Head of the Directorate of International Law at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. From 2010 to 2023, he was Switzerland’s Ambassador for the Environment and Head of International Affairs at the Federal Office for the Environment, leading the Swiss delegations in climate change, biodiversity, chemicals and waste, and sustainable development. He was president of the Conferences of the Parties of the Rotterdam and the Basel Conventions. Previously, he held positions at SECO and the WTO. He is teaching international environmental law at the University of Bern since 2008. He earned a J.S.D. and an LL.M. from NYU.
Francesco Sindico is a Professor of International Environmental Law at the University of Strathclyde Law School in Glasgow, Scotland. He is also the co-chair of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law Climate Change Law Specialist Group. He was Counsel for IUCN in the Advisory Opinion on State Climate Change Obligations before the International Court of Justice. Francesco is also the Founder and Director of the Climate Change Legal Initiative (C2LI) - www.c2li.org Francesco has collaborated and provided advice to governments and international organisations, including the Scottish Government and the Plurinational . State of Bolivia.
Prof. Jean-Marc Thouvenin
Secretary-General of The Hague Academy of International Law
Jean-Marc Thouvenin is Professor of International Law at the University Paris Nanterre, where he previously directed the Centre for International Law (CEDIN) for eight years. Since 2017, he has served as Secretary-General of the Hague Academy of International Law. He regularly acts as counsel and advocate before international and European courts and tribunals, including the International Court of Justice, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, and the European Court of Justice. His work spans public international law, international litigation, and the theory of international law.
Prof. Christina Voigt
University of Oslo, Co-Chair of the Paris Agreement’s Implementation and Compliance Committee
Prof. Jorge E. Viñuales
University of Cambridge
Jorge E. Viñuales is the Harold Samuel Chair of Law and Environmental Policy at the University of Cambridge and founding Director of the Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance (C-EENRG). He is also Research Professor of International Law at LUISS, Chair of the Compliance Committee of the UNECE/WHO-Europe Protocol on Water and Health, and a member of the Institut de Droit International. A leading scholar and practitioner in international environmental and investment law, he has advised governments and international organisations, served in numerous arbitration proceedings, and published widely across law and sustainability.
Mr. Jacob Werksman
Principal Adviser to Directorate General for Climate Action, European Commission
Christina Voigt is Professor of Law at the University of Oslo and Chair of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law. An internationally recognized expert in international environmental and climate change law, she served over a decade as legal adviser and negotiator for the Norwegian government in UN climate negotiations. She is currently Co-Chair of the Paris Agreement’s Compliance and Implementation Committee. A prolific author and speaker, her work focuses on legal frameworks for climate action, multilateralism, and sustainability.
Jacob Werksman is Principal Adviser at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Climate Action, where he has led international climate policy since 2012. An expert in international environmental and economic law, he represents the EU in UNFCCC and Paris Agreement negotiations and advises on partnerships including under the Montreal Protocol and ICAO. He supports EU climate diplomacy with major economies. Formerly with WRI, UNDP, and FIELD, he has also lectured at NYU, Georgetown, SOAS, and UCL. He holds degrees from Columbia (AB), Michigan (JD), and London (LLM), and is widely published on compliance, carbon markets, and climate finance.
Program
Wednesday, 24 September
14:00 - 14:15
Welcoming remarks by
Prof. Gloria Gaggioli
Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Geneva
14:15 - 15:00
Keynote Speech by
Amb. Franz Perrez
Head of the Directorate of International Law at the Federal Office of Foreign Affairs
Three Decades Later: Are the International Courts Taking Over from the COPs?
15:00 - 16:30
16:30 - 16:45
16:45 - 18:15
Panel 1
The Climate Regime in the Making: Shaping the Framework from Berlin to Bali
Moderator
Prof. Sarah Cassella
Université Paris Cité
Speakers
Prof. Francesco Sindico
Professor of International Environmental Law, University of Strathclyde Law School; Founder and Director of the Climate Change Legal Initiative (C2LI) and Co-Chair of the IUCN WCEL Climate Change Law Specialist Group
From Framework to Mandate: The Birth of the Climate Regime and the Legal Turn in Climate Diplomacy
Ms. Christine Adam
Director and Principal Legal Adviser, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat
The Heritage of the Kyoto Protocol: Between Legal Innovation and Political Reality
Mr. Jacob Werksmann
Principal Adviser to Directorate General for Climate Action, European Commission
Filling the Legal Vacuum? The Role of COPs Decisions to Remedy Climate Treaty Instruments
Prof. Christina Voigt
University of Oslo, Co-Chair of the Paris Agreement's Implementation and Compliance Committee
The Shaping of the Idea of Compliance in the Climate Regime
Panel 2
Managing Climate Urgency: The COPs Between Mandates and Momentum
Moderator
Ms. Iga Józefiak
Research Fellow in Climate Change & Policy
Speakers
Prof. Martin Beniston
Honorary Professor, University of Geneva, Former Vice‑Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Science Meets Law and Diplomacy: The Bali Action Plan and the Rising Call for Climate Urgency
Prof. Ginevra Le Moli
European University Institute, Florence School of Regulation
Loss and Damage and the Ascent of Developing Country Priorities
Ms. Lydie-Line Paroz
Senior Policy Advisor, Federal Office for the Environment, Switzerland
The challenge of ensuring the collective effect of NDCs is sufficient for 1.5°C
Coffee break
18:30
Cocktail
Thursday, 25 September
9:00 - 10:15
10:15 - 10:30
10:30 - 12:30
12:30 - 13:00
Panel 3
The COPs at a Crossroads: Rethinking the Governance of Climate Change in a Divided World
Moderator
Prof. Malgosia Fitzmaurice
Queen Mary University of London
Speakers
Prof. Nilufer Oral
Director of the Centre for International Law, National University of Singapore
Bridging Rules and Actions: Multilateralism and the Challenge of Climate Implementation
Prof. Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger
University of Cambridge
Fragmentation in Climate Change Negotiations and its Impact on the Climate Regime
Prof. Damilola S. Olawuyi
Hamad Bin Khalifa University
Financing the Future: Mobilizing Public and Private Capital for Climate Action
Roundtable
Beyond the Climate Regime: COPs and General International Law
Moderator
Prof. Makane Moïse Mbengue
Director of the Department of International Law and International Organization, University of Geneva
Speakers
Prof. Laurence Boisson de Chazournes
University of Geneva
Mr. Sébastien Duyck
Senior Attorney and Human Rights & Climate Campaign Manager at Center for International Environmental Law
Mr. Nicolas J.S. Lockhart
Partner at Sidley Austin LLP
Prof. Jean-Marc Thouvenin
Secretary-General of The Hague Academy of International Law
Prof. Jorge E. Viñuales
University of Cambridge
Prof. Christina Voigt
University of Oslo, Co-Chair of the Paris Agreement’s Implementation and Compliance Committee
Coffee break
Conclusion
