Board Member Spotlight: Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger

Name: Professor Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger FRSC FRSA WIJA, PhD (Cantab) DPhil Intl Law (Oxon) MEM (Yale) BCL & LLB (McGill) BA Hons (UVic/Carl)

Occupation: Vice-President of the International Law Association of Canada; Chair in Sustainable Development Law and Policy, University of Cambridge; Senior Director, Centre for International Sustainable Development Law; Executive Secretary, Climate Law and Governance Initiative (UNFCCC)

Predominant Practice or Research Area: International law on sustainable development, climate change law and governance, biodiversity law, trade and investment law for sustainability

What are the principal challenges and opportunities in sustainable development law today?

"We stand at a critical juncture for international law on sustainable development. The challenges are immense: climate crisis, biodiversity collapse, persistent inequality, and the urgent need to implement the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Yet these challenges also present profound opportunities for international law to serve humanity and the planet.

In 2025, I was honoured to be named a UN High Level Champion Climate Impact-Maker, recognising decades of work to strengthen legal frameworks for climate action. My election as Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2022 and receipt of the Weeramantry International Justice Award in 2020 reflect growing recognition that law must integrate environmental protection, human rights, and economic development.

The opportunity lies in crafting international agreements that genuinely advance justice for present and future generations. Through treaty implementation, judicial interpretation, and capacity-building across 80+ countries, we're demonstrating that sustainable development law can bridge divides between the Global North and South, between economic interests and environmental imperatives, and between current needs and intergenerational equity. International lawyers have never been more essential to our collective future."