The Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit is set to take place with a unique decentralized format, focusing on reducing environmental impact by hosting the event online. The summit, initially held at the University of Colorado Boulder in December 2022, will this year be virtually anchored at Oxford and connected with universities worldwide.
This year's summit involves collaboration between the University of Oxford, UN Human Rights, and various international institutions led by the International Universities Climate Alliance. Participating universities include 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.
The main event is a 24-hour global plenary scheduled for June 5th on World Environment Day. This plenary will be livestreamed on YouTube and begins at Oxford's Sheldonian Theatre with introductions from Professor Irene Tracey CBE FRS FMedSci and Volker Türk. It will then transition through various time zones featuring diverse discussions aimed at inspiring human rights-based climate solutions.
Key segments include youth perspectives on climate justice from the University of the South Pacific; Monash University's focus on Indigenous perspectives and health rights; UNSW Sydney's dialogue on fossil fuel exports; gender equality discussions facilitated by UN Human Rights; and a four-way conversation hosted by the Himalayan University Consortium.
Further sessions will cover human rights-based climate finance in Africa presented by the University of Nairobi; insights into teaching and research contributions to climate action from the University of Cape Town; reframing Sustainable Development Goals discussed by KTH Royal Institute of Technology; business impacts in green transitions from Oxford; Indigenous rights advocacy keynotes from Siila Watt-Cloutier at Colorado Boulder; Caribbean youth perspectives hosted by the University of West Indies; and deforestation issues addressed by Universidade de São Paulo.
The summit concludes with reflections on global plenary discussions emphasizing immediate human rights-based climate actions. The event starts streaming live on YouTube at 20:00 BST (19:00 UTC) on June 4th and continues until 22:30 BST (21:30 UTC) on June 5th. Full program details are available on the Summit hub.