Conference events

The Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are the basis for countries to achieve their climate goals and contribute to the Paris Agreement objectives. As the implementation of current climate pledges becomes increasingly important, coordination among the international climate community is, therefore, vital to keep ambition high and underline collective progress.

Throughout the years, the Global NDC Conference has become an international forum to discuss NDCs. It presents a space for strengthening networks, showcasing innovative ideas, building momentum, reflecting, and clarifying the NDC formulation and implementation processes that lead to ambitious climate policy and action. Our last three editions (in 2017, 2019 and 2023) have gathered more than 900 participants from 80+ countries.

The World Congress on Agroforestry is an international event that brings together different stakeholders in agroforestry to exchange on the advancement of research and practices in agroforestry systems, natural resource management, and climate change adaptation and mitigation for sustainable and resilient agro-ecosystems.

Under the main theme, Agroforestry for People, Planet Profit, the 6th World Congress on Agroforestry 2025 will take place in Kigali, Rwanda, from 20 – 24 October, 2025, will bring together leading experts to share their latest research, innovations, and practices in the field of agroforestry.

The IUCN World Conservation Congress is the largest gathering of nature conservation experts, leaders and decision-makers in the world. It will help shape global priorities for nature conservation and climate change for the coming decade and beyond.

The IUCN Congress 2025 will take place 9–15 October in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, under the slogan Powering transformative conservation. Held every four years, the IUCN World Conservation Congress brings together world leaders and representatives from governments, science, academia, Indigenous peoples’ groups, non-governmental organisations, regional and local authorities and businesses to help address the world’s most pressing environmental and sustainability challenges.

The IUCN World Conservation Congress 2025 will address the following five themes:

• Scaling Up Resilient Conservation Action
• Reducing Climate Overshoot Risks
• Delivering on Equity
• Transitioning to Nature-Positive Economies and Societies
• Disruptive Innovation and Leadership for Conservation

These themes emphasise the need to accelerate the implementation of the global biodiversity framework, to climate-proof conservation solutions, and to combine ancestral Indigenous knowledge with cutting-edge innovation at all levels, from local to global. They also stress the importance of including all voices, from Indigenous peoples to civil society to rangers, shift to nature-positive economies globally, and empower the next generation of leaders.

World Biodiversity Summit is returning for its 5th edition on 25 September 2025 on the sidelines of Climate Week NYC.

Last year, the programme pioneered global public-private partnerships to address the urgent need for biodiversity restoration through nature-based solutions and nature-positive investments, bridging the climate and biodiversity agendas. 

To foster harmony with nature and effectively enact the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, last year’s summit took stock of the implementation of its target and explored the synergies between climate and biodiversity, fostering cross-agenda collaboration and actionable implementation strategies.

World Biodiversity Summit engages businesses, governments, civil society and financial institutions to bolster support for nature and mitigate climate and biodiversity risks while amplifying business opportunities on a larger scale. 

Climate Week NYC is the largest annual climate event of its kind, bringing together over 900 events and activities across the City of New York – in person, hybrid and online. Each year, business leaders, political change makers, local decision takers and civil society representatives of all ages and backgrounds, from all over the world, gather to drive the transition, speed up progress, and champion change that is already happening.

Climate Week NYC is hosted by Climate Group, an international non-profit whose purpose is to drive climate action, fast. Climate Group hosts the official program during the week that brings together the most senior international figures from business, government, civil society and the climate sector.

Every three years, representatives of the governments of each of the Contracting Parties meet as the Conference of the Contracting Parties (COP), to agree on a work programme and budgetary arrangements for the next triennium and consider guidance on a range of ongoing and emerging environmental issues.

Representatives of non-member states, intergovernmental institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) also participate in these meetings as non-voting observers.

Each meeting of the COP includes a number of technical sessions on ongoing and emerging wetland conservation and wise use issues, to update Convention concepts and draft guidance for the Parties.

The sixty-second sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SB 62) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will take place at the World Conference Center Bonn (WCCB) in Bonn, Germany, from 16 to 26 June 2025.

Taking place 19-21 February 2025 in Cape Town, Africa’s Green Economy Summit (AGES) will connect high-impact climate and other sustainable development projects across Africa with global capital. This year’s theme, “Building a climate resilient Africa: Catalyzing investment and innovation in the green and blue economies,” will focus on the five sub-themes: green reforms, nature and biodiversity, climate finance, the future of African cities, and green industrialization.

CPI’s Barbara Buchner will deliver a keynote speech during the summit’s opening plenary session. CPI’s Senior Advisor Jonathan First, who is the interim chairperson of AGES’ advisory board, will also feature as a speaker at the summit.

This year, Brazil will host the COP30 climate conference in the heart of the Amazon rainforest – putting the spotlight on one of the world’s most important tropical environments, a huge biodiversity hotspots and globally important carbon sink.

But forests are increasingly under threat, both from deforestation and from the climate crisis itself. The Amazon forest might be close to its tipping point. What do we need to do in the next decade to save the forests before it’s too late?

On the pathway from Baku to Belém, join a thousand experts, practitioners, policymakers and grassroots leaders from around the world to lay the foundations for a resilient, productive and just future for forests.

Economist Impact, with the support of official host The Nippon Foundation, is hosting the 12th World Ocean Summit in Tokyo in 2025.  With over 14,000 islands, 347,000km of coastline and a blue economy that is forecasted to reach 28 trillion yen by 2030, Japan as a maritime nation offers a rich cultural and historical perspective.

The summit convenes the widest cross-section of the ocean community from business and finance to government, national and international policy-makers, civil society and academia. It is designed to instigate action to develop the sustainable ocean economy; to encourage new partnerships across industries, with NGOs, scientists, technology developers and investors. By bringing together all stakeholders in the ocean ecosystem, the summit provides the perfect platform to inspire new synergies, solutions and strategies on the track to meet the 2030 targets in UN SDG 14.

The 12th annual summit will focus on the transition to a sustainable ocean economy,  ocean stewardship, strategies to restore ocean health, advancements in marine technology and collaborative efforts to address ocean pollution. The agenda will include a series of “How to” workshops designed to generate tangible action points and key takeaways to enable organisations to instigate change and make an impact on the journey towards a healthier ocean.

The summit in Tokyo will continue action-based conversations on the key themes from recent World Ocean Summits, as well as provide a vital opportunity for participants from Asia to engage with the global ocean community ahead of the United Nations Oceans Conference in June 2025.

Simultaneous translation will be available during the event from English to Japanese.