An international gathering held during the UN General Assembly that explores how science and innovation can support sustainable development. It convenes researchers, governments, UN agencies, industry and civil society to discuss research cooperation and practical applications of science.
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New UN disaster treaty could create first binding international obligation for disaster risk reduction
Member states will negotiate a disaster protection convention in Bangkok in January 2027, with 95 countries already submitting proposals emphasizing disaster risk reduction obligations.
Why it matters: No binding international law currently requires states to reduce disaster risk; this treaty would fill that gap, complementing the soft-law Sendai Framework with enforceable obligations relevant to climate adaptation.
Brazil's Supreme Court elevated environmental protection to fundamental right with preferred constitutional position
Professor Sarlet traced how the Supreme Court recognized environmental protection as a fundamental right immune to constitutional amendment, with in dubio pro natura as its enforcement tool.
Why it matters: Unlike Germany or Spain where environmental protection is a weaker constitutional principle, Brazil's recognition as a fundamental right means any judge can enforce climate protection directly without enabling legislation.
United Nations
PGE-SPScience Summit22d agoSeptember 23, 2026
São Paulo reverses passive legal posture, filing 812 environmental suits in 2025 and launching climate finance mechanism
São Paulo's Attorney General scaled environmental lawsuits exponentially and created Finaclima, channeling offender settlements into direct climate transition funding.
Why it matters: Environmental offenders sitting at the conciliation table are effectively funding the climate governance infrastructure that will oversee future enforcement — a self-reinforcing model other jurisdictions could replicate.
United Nations
National Council Of JusticeScience Summit22d agoSeptember 23, 2026
Presser challenges climate litigation community: did winning the case actually change anything?
Judge Presser argued that climate justice must be measured by real outcomes — forests standing, emissions falling, communities protected — not merely by favorable court rulings.
Why it matters: Brazil's National Council of Justice is building institutional capacity for judges to handle complex environmental-climate disputes requiring satellite imagery, emissions data, and multi-agency coordination.
Judge Wedy traced three landmark Supreme Court decisions that elevated climate treaties above ordinary law and created ongoing judicial supervision of government environmental duties.
Why it matters: The Paris Agreement now serves as a constitutional-level standard for reviewing government climate omissions in Brazil, and any norm lowering protections below treaty standards is now reviewable by courts.
Private law fills climate policy gaps — São Paulo sugarcane protocol cut 11 million tons of CO2
Professor Iglesias argued that civil liability can allocate climate costs through strict liability, attribution science, and concausation doctrine, illustrated by Brazil's sugarcane burning transition.
Why it matters: The sugarcane case demonstrates how a single judicial decision can trigger voluntary private-sector action reducing emissions equivalent to removing 100,000 buses from roads for a year.
United Nations
Oil And Gas PollutionScience Summit22d agoSeptember 23, 2026
Oil Pollution Enforcement Gaps Persist in Both UK and Nigeria Despite Available Remediation Technologies
Esogene Yvette Uwetu presented comparative PhD research showing that both the UK North Sea and Nigeria's Niger Delta suffer from oil and gas pollution not due to lack of regulation, but from insufficient enforcement and implementation.
Why it matters: The same multinational oil companies operate in both regions, and neither country has successfully translated regulations into measurable environmental recovery despite known remediation technologies.
United Nations
Food WasteScience Summit22d agoSeptember 23, 2026
Researcher Proposes 'No More Food Waste' Roadmap to Connect UK Surplus Food With 7 Million in Poverty
Rita Smyths presented research investigating how the UK's 9.5 million tonnes of annual food waste can be redirected to address food poverty affecting over 7 million people, targeting SDG 12.3.
Why it matters: With 2.5 million more UK households falling into poverty between 2019 and 2023, meeting the 2030 SDG target of halving food waste depends on bridging the surplus-scarcity gap through integrated policy and behavioral strategies.
United Nations
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