2025 Climate Summit to spotlight global human rights

BOULDER, Colo., May 14, 2025 – The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN Human Rights), the University of Oxford, and the University of Colorado Boulder has announced the official program and participating institutions for the 2025 Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit, an ambitious event focused on advancing human rights-based climate solutions across the globe.

Breaking from the tradition of high-emissions, single-location gatherings, this year’s summit will adopt a decentralized format centered on a 24-hour virtual global conference, livestreamed on YouTube and anchored at the University of Oxford. Participating universities across time zones will host sessions in a continuous relay, highlighting regional challenges and solutions to the climate crisis.

A global model for climate action

First held at CU Boulder in December 2022, the 2025 summit will once again unite world-leading academic institutions and human rights advocates. Co-hosts include the University of Cape Town, Himalayan University Consortium, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Monash University, University of Nairobi, Universidade de São Paulo, the University of the South Pacific, UNSW Sydney, and the University of the West Indies. The summit is organized in collaboration with the International Universities Climate Alliance.
The main event, a 24-hour global assembly timed with World Environment Day on June 5, will feature an opening address from University of Oxford Vice-Chancellor Irene Tracey and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. This will be followed by a panel discussion with climate leaders including Alok Sharma, Kate Raworth, and Vanessa Nakate, as well as a performance by the spoken word collective, Hot Poets.

Local voices, global reach

As the summit baton moves around the globe, each university will spotlight regional priorities and voices:

• University of the South Pacific will focus on youth advocacy and climate justice in the Pacific, featuring student leader Cynthia Houniuhi and Tuvaluan High Commissioner to Fiji, Dr. Eselealofa ‘Ese’ Apinelu.
• Monash University and UNSW Sydney will lead discussions on Indigenous rights, health, and fossil fuel policy in Australia and the broader Asia-Pacific region.
• The Himalayan University Consortium will facilitate a dialogue between a community member, scientist, policymaker, and Indigenous knowledge holder from the Hindu Kush Himalayas.
• University of Nairobi and University of Cape Town will explore just transitions, human rights-based finance, and African climate resilience.
• KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden will examine how to reframe the UN Sustainable Development Goals for a post-2030 world centered on human rights and planetary health.
• The summit will return to Oxford for sessions on international law, conflict and climate, and the role of business in a just green transition.
  North and South American spotlight

At CU Boulder, June 5 will feature a keynote from Inuit leader and environmental health advocate Siila Watt-Cloutier. NPR’s Lakshmi Singh will moderate panels with CU Boulder researchers on the human rights impacts of pollution, water insecurity, and climate-driven migration. Tonni Brodber, head of the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund secretariat, will offer opening remarks on climate impacts affecting women and girls.
Universidade de São Paulo will close the summit with sessions on deforestation, Indigenous rights, and messages from South American government leaders, including COP30 President Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago.
A final session, led by UN Human Rights, will bring together perspectives from all regions to focus on actionable, human rights-based climate solutions.
The full program is available on the summit’s official website.