Enabling action and enhancing ambition: what can we expect at COP29?

Emily is an Australian qualified lawyer and holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Melbourne, Master of Law (JD) from Monash University and a Master of Law from the University of Cambridge. Before coming to the IBA, Emily was a lawyer in the climate change and sustainability team of a leading Australian law firm, where she worked with clients across a range of sectors to support their decarbonisation strategies and manage regulatory compliance risks. Emily also has experience in environment and planning law, and litigation, and has a particular interest in the intersections between climate change and the global biodiversity crisis and the ongoing emergence of frameworks for assessing and managing nature-related risks. Emily is a member of the National Environmental Law Association (Australia) and has previously held positions as Associate Fellow with the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law; coordinator of the Climate Law and Governance Initiative; and Judge’s Associate at the Victorian Supreme Court of Appeal (Australia). As a Project Lawyer in the LPRU, Emily leads projects in environment, climate and business and human rights law and is the Delegate Lead for UNFCCC and COP engagement.

Ulvia Zeynalova-Bockin is a Partner and Co-Managing Officer in Dentons’ Baku Office. Her practice includes banking law, Islamic finance, debt capital markets, real estate finance, mergers and acquisitions, as well as corporate law and finance. Ulvia also has experience in securities and financial regulation, including work with the Corporation Finance Division of the US Securities & Exchange Commission in Washington, DC and advising clients with business interests in the CIS countries while working in Salans' New York office and, more recently, in Dentons Rodyk in Singapore. She has been ranked as the Next Generation Partner by The Legal 500 EMEA every year since 2017, and as Leading Individual since 2023; as the Recognised Practitioner and Band 3 Lawyer in General Business Law by Chambers Asia-Pacific and Chambers Global every year since 2018, and Band 2 since 2023; as the Rising Star and the Highly Regarded lawyer by IFRL1000 2019 and 2020 editions respectively; as well as the Leader lawyer - Market leader in Banking Law and M&A by IFLR1000 every year since 2021. Ulvia is one of only 5 women in Azerbaijan and one of 18 in Dentons globally to be recognized as a women leader by IFLR1000 Women Leaders 2021 and 2022.

Lara Douvartzidis is a Senior Legal Executive at the Net Zero Lawyers Alliance. Prior to that she worked in the Legal Policy and Research Unit at the IBA in environment, climate and business and human rights law. She has experience as Delegate Lead for UNFCCC and COP engagement and is an Associate Fellow with the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law. She is an Australian qualified lawyer with a practice background in Sydney as a solicitor and Pro Bono coordinator at Johnson Winter & Slattery and at Australia’s Public Interest Advocacy Centre. During her time in private practice, she advised and acted for corporate and pro bono clients with expertise in environment and planning law, dispute resolution and class actions, ESG and modern slavery law obligations and transitional issues faced by clients in these emerging areas. She is passionate about strategic climate litigation trends, First Nations justice, just transitions, and ESG related risk management and compliance. She served as the Associate to the Honourable Chief Justice Kourakis of the Supreme Court of South Australia. She holds an Advanced Masters in European and International Human Rights Law (Ad. LLM) from Leiden University in The Netherlands and a double degree in Law (LLB) and Environmental Policy and Management (BEnvs) from the University of Adelaide, South Australia. She was listed as an Australasian Rising Star in 2021, a Finalist in the Australian Lawyers Weekly 30 Under 30 Awards for Planning, Native Title and Environment Law in 2021, and a Finalist in the Women in Law Awards for Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year in 2020 and 2021.

Pascale Bird is the executive director of Legal Response International (LRI), a London based charity that provides free legal assistance to developing countries and NGOs at the UN climate negotiations. She has over twelve years’ experience working in the climate arena: attending COPs and subsidiary meetings and delivering training sessions on the UNFCCC regime and its relevance for developing countries, both in the UK and abroad, for a wide range of audiences. She has also been involved in the review of climate change laws and policies in several countries, including Botswana, Chile, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea and Uganda. She is a qualified solicitor and holds an LLM in International Business Law and an MA in Geopolitics, Territory and Security. Before joining LRI, she worked as an associate and professional support lawyer in the EU and Competition department of Simmons & Simmons. She also volunteered for Oxfam, project managing a book on climate change liability.

Roger Martella is GE’s Vice President, Chief Sustainability Officer for the General Electric Company. In this role, Roger coordinates GE’s mission-critical focus on contributing technology and innovation solutions to the global challenges of the energy transition and climate change, precision health, and the future of flight. Roger leads efforts to operationalize the Company’s ESG actions and engagement with diverse stakeholders to implement solutions toward these global challenges with the same heightened rigor that GE runs its businesses. Prior to GE, Roger co-lead Sidley Austin LLP's tier 1 ranked global environmental law and climate change practices. Prior to Sidley, Roger was General Counsel of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where he was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate, and the Principal Counsel for Complex Litigation for the Justice Department’s Natural Resources Section. Roger currently teaches a first of its kind International Environmental Law and Justice class at Howard University Law School. Several ranking organizations have awarded Roger their top ratings and hall of fame recognitions for environmental and climate change law globally and in the United States. Roger has co-authored and edited four books on the intersections of climate change law, international environmental law, human rights, and ESG, including co-editing the recently published Corporate Social Responsibility—Sustainable Business: Environmental, Social and Governance Frameworks for the 21st Century (Wolters Kluwer 2020) and has addressed the United Nations, Congress, and other entities on these topics on many occasions. He is an active board member of the Environmental Law Institute, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) and several environmental NGOs, energy think tanks, and “intrapreneurship” organizations and serves on the executive council of both the International Bar Association’s and ABA’s environmental sections (SEERIL and SEER), where he promoted and helped draft recent presidential-level climate resolutions. Roger graduated from Vanderbilt Law School, where he was editor in chief of the Vanderbilt Law Review, and Cornell University. He grew up in Norristown, PA, where his family ran a corner Italian bakery.