On August 18th, the 2025 ‘Climate x’ Leadership Training Program, hosted by the Global Alliance of Universities on Climate, successfully held the fifth live session, focusing on Climate x Mitigation & Adaptation

Dr. Siobhan McDonnell is an Associate Professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy at The Australian National University. Siobhan is a lawyer and anthropologist who has over twenty-five years of experience working with Indigenous people in Australia and the Pacific. Since 2019 she has been a lead negotiator on climate change for various Pacific governments (loss and damage, and mitigation). She is currently the lead negotiator on mitigation for Vanuatu. Her lecture provides an overview of thematic areas: the GST and the Mitigation Work Programme, reviewing the mitigation gaps, where to from here?

During the lecture, Dr. Siobhan navigated participants through the dynamic evolution of UNFCCC mitigation negotiations, anchoring her analysis in Articles 2 and 4 of the Paris Agreement and the pivotal role of nationally determined contributions (NDCs). She reviewed milestones from COP26 in Glasgow, where parties committed to phasing down coal and phasing out inefficient fossil fuels, to COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh and COP28 in Dubai, which underscored the urgency of the critical decade to 2030. Highlighting the findings of the first Global Stocktake, she emphasized the persistent mitigation gaps and the need for stronger ambition. Drawing attention to sea-level rise, glacier melt, and feedback mechanisms amplifying climate impacts, she linked scientific evidence to economic damages already being felt. Dr. Siobhan also explored legal dimensions, noting how an International Court of Justice opinion could strengthen the interpretation of state obligations by shifting the language of mitigation from might to shall.

The 2025 Climate x Leadership Training Program, hosted by the Global Alliance of Universities on Climate (GAUC), and strategically supported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and GAUC's global partners, aims to empower youth with the knowledge, skills, and tools to become the climate leaders of tomorrow. The program inspires participants to envision a sustainable future, take meaningful action, and unlock their potential as leaders for a carbon-neutral future.

The second lecture of Adaptation & Mitigation week will take place on August 21th, led by Prof. ITO from the University of Tokyo, continuing the exploration of this critical theme.

Reporter: Maximilian Arras

Editor: Najiang An

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