Complex, inter-linked ‘wicked problems’ of climate change, drought and hunger; terrestrial and marine ecosystem collapse and species extinction; and world health pandemics, among others, have been signalled by scientists and civil society, with increasing urgency, for decades.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a global agenda for the achievement of international treaty obligations but also economic recovery coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Governments are spending billions pandemic recovery. How could this finance foster and not frustrate global sustainability.

Join us for an insightful event chaired by Professor Stephen J. Toope, Vice-Chancellor, University of Cambridge and hosted by Professor Diane Coyle, Co-Director, Bennett Institute for Public Policy.

This Public Lecture provided will be provided by Professor Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger, Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professor, University of Cambridge, Senior Director, Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL), Executive Secretary, UNFCCC CoP26 Climate Law and Governance Initiative, and Full Professor of Law, School of Environment, Entrepreneurship & Development, University of Waterloo

This Leverhulme Lecture precedes a Distinguished Experts Dialogue among leading international jurists and academics, and renowned finance and public policy experts, to share insights and identify new directions for post-pandemic recovery.

Confirmed members of the Distinguished Experts Dialogue

Professor David Boyd, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, Associate Professor of law, policy, and sustainability, University of British Columbia.

The Rt. Hon. Lord Carnwath CVO former Justice of the UK Supreme Court, Associate Member of Landmark Chambers, London.

Professor Dame Julia King, CBE, DBE, Baroness Brown of Cambridge, Carbon Trust Chair and former Vice-Chancellor of Aston University.

Douglas Leys, QC, General Counsel, Green Climate Fund, former Solicitor General, Government of Jamaica, and General Counsel, Caribbean Development Bank.

Wendy J. Miles, QC, Global Climate Law Leadership Award Laureate, Vice President of the International Chamber of Commerce Court of Arbitration, Co-Chair of the task force on Arbitration of Climate Change Related Disputes.

Russell Picot, Chair of the Trustee board of the HSBC Bank (UK) Pension Fund, Special Advisor to the Financial Stability Board’s Climate-related Financial Disclosures Task Force, and Senior Associate at the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership.

Dame Fiona Reynolds, DBE, Master, Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, former Director-General, National Trust.

Dame Barbara Stocking, DBE, President, Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge, Chair of the Trustees,and former Chief Executive of Oxfam.