Input to CSTD Inter-Sessional Panel Meeting on Data Governance for Development: From Asymmetry to Equitable Stewardship
South Centre
July 2026
Data Governance for Development needs equitable participation by the Global South, capacity-building & fully realising the benefits of data. See our inputs to the Issues Paper by UNCTAD for upcoming UN CSTD Intersessional Panel.
Input on Technologies related to Climate Change and their Impacts on Human Rights
Special Rapporteur on Climate Change
South Centre
September 2026
Beyond Amicus Curiae: Rethinking the Role of Third-Party Participation in Investment Arbitration and Environmental Governance
By Paulina Kuehme, Lakshmi Swathi Ganti, Brian Kelly Nyaga, Mattia Semenza
Supervisor: Prof. Elena Cima
Prepared for the South Centre as part of the Geneva Graduate Institute’s LL.M. Legal Clinic Programme, International Environmental Law and Governance Stream
This document examines third-party participation in Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), with a particular emphasis on environmental considerations. It investigates how to ensure procedural fairness and enable meaningful involvement of affected communities in cases concerning environmental protection. The study assesses the scope and challenges of such participation, including the ability to present evidence and legal arguments related to environmental impacts. It also explores the potential role of third-party involvement in shaping counterclaims against investors for environmental damage, and its possible influence in mitigating compensation by introducing arguments and evidence related to environmental costs. Through this analysis, the project aims to support a more balanced and sustainable ISDS framework – one that protects both investors and the environment – while fostering community empowerment and strengthening accountability for environmental harm.
Roundtable: Who Owns the Transition? Technology, Power, and the Green Industrial Divide
Thursday, 24 September, 9:30 – 11:30AM
In person, Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice, New York
Co-organised by Resource Justice Network and the South Centre
Intellectual property and the green technology divide: barriers, policy spaces and collective options for developing countries
By Paulo Esteves
Developing countries are expected to industrialise, decarbonise, and adapt to climate change simultaneously. Yet, many crucial climate technologies remain inaccessible because key knowledge is protected by patents and trade secrets held by multinational companies in a few countries. Drawing on the intellectual property (IP) and climate literature, the paper maps this green technology IP landscape and synthesises four interacting barrier clusters – access costs, transaction costs, legal and institutional constraints (including TRIPS and “TRIPS plus”), and information and absorptive capacity gaps – that hinder diffusion and reinforce dependence. It concludes that closing the green technology divide requires a combined strategy: using and defending TRIPS flexibilities (e.g., compulsory licensing and tighter patentability standards), building collective licensing and transparency mechanisms (such as patent pools), mobilising finance, and investing in domestic capability and competition policy so access translates into real deployment and learning.
South Centre Statement to the First Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence Governance
Geneva, 6-7 July 2026
AI governance needs implementation of multilateral commitments, backed by financing & measurable progress. International cooperation & AI capacity-building for the Global South is key to leverage AI for development.
Statement by South Centre
Annual panel discussion on the adverse impacts of climate change on human rights
62nd Session of the Human Rights Council
Geneva, 19 June 2026
During the Annual panel discussion on the adverse impacts of climate change on human rights at the 62nd session of the Human Rights Council, the South Centre delivered a statement.
Climate action must be anchored in the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC) and supported by adequate, predictable, and accessible finance. The statement outlines four actionable pathways:
Realising human rights demands climate justice, requiring equitable, accessible, and rights-based finance to repair historical harms.
Transparency Without Results: UN Climate Reports Fail to Show Effective Transfer of
Technology to Developing Countries
By Ningxiner Li, intern of the Health, Intellectual Property and Biodiversity Programme (HIPB) at the South Centre
This report synthesizes the findings of research on the reporting and compliance mechanisms governing transfer of technology obligations of developed country Parties under the United Nations climate change regime. The legal basis for transfer of technology has evolved from foundational principles in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to an enhanced transparency framework (ETF) as part of the Paris Agreement, with defined modalities, procedures and guidelines for the transparency framework for action and support (MPGs). The ETF requires that developed countries submit Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs) detailing their transfer of technology provided to developing countries. Our review of developed countries’ first BTR submissions reveals significant shortcomings that hinder proper evaluation of compliance with the transfer of technology obligations. The current system allows reporting that meets procedural requirements but fails to deliver clear, comparable, and outcome-oriented data essential for enforcing the legal obligations on transfer of technology and ensuring it serves as a genuine catalyst for global climate actions. This report argues that the ETF, as currently operationalized, prioritizes procedural transparency over substantive effectiveness. The design of the reporting requirements is characterized by discretionary language, fragmented methodologies, and weak linkages between financial and technological support. These features undermine the ability of Parties, review bodies, and the global stocktake to assess whether technology is being delivered in a manner that meaningfully supports developing countries’ climate action. Recommendations are advanced to strengthen reporting requirements, enhance traceability and comparability, and reorient the transparency framework toward measurable outcomes rather than process-based compliance. As the first comprehensive review of the first BTR submissions by developed countries, this report is intended to provide an evidentiary foundation for the 2028 MPGs review.
Addressing the Systemic Risks of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) to Climate Action
Informal Note, 5 June 2026
By Daniel Uribe Terán, Lead Programme Officer, Sustainable Development and Climate Change Programme, South Centre
The current international investment agreement (IIA) framework, featuring over 2,200 treaties with Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanisms, acts as a structural barrier to the implementation of key aspects of the Paris Agreement. By protecting fossil fuel investments, those treaties create significant financial risks that may induce “regulatory chill,” deterring states from implementing necessary climate mitigation measures. Recent rulings from the International Court of Justice, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and the European Court of Human Rights have affirmed states’ sovereign rights to regulate for climate action, providing new legal tools to challenge the ISDS status quo. However, these judicial developments do not eliminate litigation risks or guarantee favourable outcomes. Consequently, states must pursue systemic reform, including treaty modernisation, the termination of outdated IIAs, the implementation of comprehensive climate carve-outs, and restrictions on forward-looking damages. Addressing these legal barriers at upcoming forums like the 64th sessions of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Subsidiary Bodies (SB 64) is essential to align international investment law with the existential imperative of a low-emission transition.
Charting Green Industrial Futures: Advancing Global South Cooperation for a Just Transition
By Danish
Accelerating green industrialisation is essential for Global South countries to align their national climate action with job creation, economic growth and sustainable development. However, they face persistent barriers in access to finance, clean technologies, and policy space needed to implement green industrial policies. This policy brief argues that these constraints can be effectively addressed by developing countries through expanding their international cooperation in climate, trade and industry. Through the analysis of three institutional mechanisms emerging from the Global South – the Africa Green Industrialisation Initiative (AGII), the International Solar Alliance (ISA), and the Integrated Forum on Climate Change and Trade (IFCCT), the brief highlights some ways for developing countries to shape their own green industrial futures and advance a just transition.
The sixty-fourth sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SB64), Belém indicators, plastic treaty and Santa Marta outcomes
Informal Note, 5 June 2026
By Daniel Uribe Terán, Lead Programme Officer, and Touba Esfahani Nejad, Intern, of the Sustainable Development and Climate Change Programme (SDCC) at the South Centre
The Belém Adaptation Indicators agreed at COP30 to make adaptation more measurable. While the measurement of the adaptation efforts is a step forward, it is not sufficient. The indicators can be used for comparison and surveillance. However, the adaptation objective of the Paris Agreement is to enhance adaptive capacity, strengthen resilience and reduce vulnerability of persons and of vulnerable ecosystems that are critical for the maintenance of forest ecosystems and the provision of forest ecosystem services. To achieve these objectives, it is necessary to take effective action to provide finance, technology transfer, debt relief and capacity-building. In SB64, developing countries will have the opportunity to discuss what is the role of reporting while support for implementing adaptation measures are missing.
South Centre Webinar
Leveraging Global South Data Through Digital Public Infrastructure for Sustainable Development
24 June 2026 | 11:00 – 12:00 (CEST) | Zoom
Taking place on Digital Public Infrastructures Day (DPI) Day during the UN Open Source Week 2026, this webinar aims to:
