Call for COPs to connect with place-based climate action

Asif Husain-Naviatti, Chair of Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission, has tackled global climate governance issues from UN COPs and Climate Weeks to the Sustainable Development Goals in two new publications.  

He is contributing author of a Discussion Note for Oxford Climate Policy, published in May 2025, that says ‘transformational change’ is needed for breakthrough climate action and challenges the relevance of COPs and Climate Weeks to achieve this in their current form.   

The Note, with Ovais Sarmad (former UNFCCC Deputy Executive Secretary) its lead author, echoes the recent challenge from the European Capacity Building Initiative (ecbi) that the expo-style COPs – now become so big and expensive that they are second in size to global events like the Olympics – are too unwieldy and are failing to drive efficiently the change needed for Parties to take action. 

“If global climate summits are to remain relevant, they must connect more meaningfully with the lived realities of place-based climate action,” said Asif Husain-Naviatti.  

“The urgency and complexity of this moment demand that COPs evolve – not just in format but in function – to support, encourage and amplify delivery on the ground. 

“We need less spectacle and more substance, with Climate Weeks acting as engines of implementation and ambition, and COPs re-focused on accountability, progress tracking, and enabling transformative climate action.” 

Asif Husain-Naviatti,  a UN veteran with many years of experience whose international career includes being an advisor to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, has also contributed to a new book examining the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. 

‘The Sustainable Organization’ brings together 25 writers from a global author community to explore how an adaptive mindset approach can support institutions trying to lead the way in an unpredictable world. 

Sharing inspiring ‘use cases’, the book illustrates how the way of thinking, called the Three-Pillar Model, can be used to tackle the 17 UN SDGs. 

Asif Husain-Naviatti’s chapter on climate governance reflects learnings from his many years of experience as an intergovernmental convener, negotiator, and relationship builder, coordinating between UN member states, civil society, the private sector and other institutions, on a broad range of sustainable development issues led by governments.  

He is also a Visting Scholar specialising in climate governance at Columbia University in New York.