The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN Human Rights) and the University of Oxford have unveiled the official programme and participating institutions for the 2025 Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit . Taking place from 2-8 June, this unprecedented summit will unite voices across continents to advance human rights-based climate solutions.
Unlike traditional summits that convene the world's experts in a single location, often at great environmental cost, the second Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit pioneers a decentralised model that will unite people across the world around a cornerstone online event.
First held at the University of Colorado Boulder in December 2022, this year the event will be virtually anchored at Oxford but connected with leading universities around the world - eliminating the need for mass travel and reducing environmental impacts.
Alongside the University of Oxford and UN Human Rights, the 2025 programme will see a number of international institutions, convened by the International Universities Climate Alliance, take a leading role as Summit co-hosts.
The University of Cape Town, University of Colorado Boulder, 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, will each participate in the livestream during the online global plenary.
The cornerstone of the multi-day summit, the 24-hour global plenary will take place on 5 June 2025 for World Environment Day.
A series of discussions across time zones to inspire human rights-based climate solutions around the world
Livestreamed on YouTube , the plenary will kick-off in Oxford at the renowned Sheldonian Theatre with an introduction from the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, Professor Irene Tracey CBE FRS, FMedSci, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk.
The plenary baton will then be passed on to the University of the South Pacific, who will spotlight youth perspectives on climate justice and discussions on climate change in the Pacific. The University of the South Pacific's hosted programme will feature Cynthia Houniuhi, President of Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change, Dr. Eselealofa 'Ese' Apinelu, Tuvaluan High Commissioner to Fiji, and Lenora Qereqeretabua, Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Fiji.
The Summit's Australian partners will follow, with Monash University presenting an interactive programme exploring Indigenous perspectives, the human right to health, and the unifying power of music across cultures in Asia and the Pacific. UNSW Sydney will host discussions on the human rights impacts of Australia's fossil fuel exports and transforming partnership to resilience building through a dialogue on Indigenous Peoples and university engagement. This is followed by a conversation on advancing gender equality in climate action facilitated by UN Human Rights and the International Universities Climate Alliance.
The Himalayan University Consortium will then host a four-way conversation on human rights-based climate action between a community member, a scientist, a policymaker and an Indigenous knowledge holder from countries in the Hindu Kush Himalayas.
Moving through the time zones, the University of Nairobi is set to bring discussions of human rights and just transitions to the fore, as well as delivering talks on human rights-based climate finance and human-rights based climate adaptation and resilience in Africa. The University of Cape Town will then provide insights into the relationship between climate change and human rights in Africa and the ways that teaching and research can advance human-rights based climate action. The International Universities Climate Alliance and UN Human Rights will then convene a discussion on human rights, climate finance and the road to 1.3 trillion.
After that, the KTH Royal Institute of Technology will host a dialogue on how we can reframe the Sustainable Development Goals for a post-2030 world that is centred in human rights and planetary health.
The online plenary will then return to Oxford, where topics will include the transformative power of international human rights law in climate action, the role of war in fuelling the climate crisis and vice versa, and business and human rights in the green transition. The final conversation facilitated by UN Human Right and the International Universities Climate Alliance will then take place, focusing on integrating human rights in NDCs.
Next, the conversation heads over the Atlantic to the University of Colorado Boulder for a keynote from global advocate for Indigenous rights and health Siila (Sheila) Watt-Cloutier, before the University of the West Indies hosts a session on Caribbean youth perspectives on climate justice.
The Universidade de São Paulo closes the event with sessions on addressing deforestation and its contribution to the climate crisis as well as the rights of Indigenous Peoples and the rights of future generations in the context of climate change, including messages from government ministers and the President of COP30, Ambassador André Correia do Lago.
Finally, a closing session led by UN Human Rights will bring together key voices from across the world to share reflections on the global plenary, focusing on human rights-based climate action that can be taken right here, right now.
The global plenary will be streamed live on YouTube, beginning at 20:00 BST (19:00 UTC) on 4 June 2025 and continuing to 22:30 BST (21:30 UTC) on 5 June 2025. Full details of the online global programme are available on the Summit hub .
