ESG Conference 2025 wrap-up: sustainability and climate risk remain critical for business amid global uncertainty
In June 2025, the European Regional Forum, North American Regional Forum, Energy, Environment, Natural Resources and Infrastructure Law Section, Business Human Rights Committee and Law Firm Management Committee convened the third annual IBA ESG Conference in Paris, themed 'ESG: the Brussels Effect at a crossroads.'
Listen to conversations with leading panellists recorded at the conference, interviewed by Sara Carnegie, Director, Legal Policy and Research Unit (LPRU), and Emily Morison, Project Lawyer, LPRU.
Damilola S Olawuyi
Professor Damilola S Olawuyi is an international lawyer, professor, and policy adviser specialising in business and human rights, energy, natural resources, and environmental law. He serves as UNESCO Chairholder on Environmental Law and Sustainable Development at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar and is Director of the OGEES Institute in Nigeria. A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (KC) and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, he has advised on major energy and infrastructure projects globally. He sits on the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights and chairs the IBA SEERIL Academic Advisory Group. His award-winning book Environmental Law in Arab States earned recognition from ASIL in 2023.
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Pascal Durand
Pascal Durand is a lawyer and former Elected Member of the European Parliament. Mon Durand co-founded the French Europe Ecologie les Verts in 2008, and was elected to the European Parliament under the green banner in 2014, where he worked on many subjects including the transparency of public life, addressing tax evasion and trade secrets, and protection of whistle-blowers. Mon Durand was re-elected to the European Parliament for a second term from May 2019 to July 2024, and during this term, served as rapporteur on the revision of the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive.
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Ambassador Willem Van de Voorde
Ambassador Willem Van de Voorde is a Belgian diplomat currently serving as Special Envoy for Climate and Environment at the Belgian Foreign Ministry. His distinguished career includes roles as Ambassador in Berlin and in Vienna, and to the European Union until November 2024, Secretary to the Queen, and Deputy Head of Mission in Berlin and Tokyo. He has also led the cabinet of two foreign ministers and coordinated the Belgian EU Presidency. His diplomatic expertise spans multilateral and bilateral arenas, and his work reflects Belgium’s leadership in climate diplomacy and EU governance.
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- Naa Atswei Koney, ESG Lawyer and Strategist, Ernst & Young West Africa;
- Paola Fonseca, Senior Corporate Counsel, Sphera;
- Steven Richman, Chair, IBA Bar Issues Commission and Member, Clark Hill;
- Mariana Herrero, Senior Vice Chair, IBA Water Law Committee and Partner, Galicia Abogados; and
- Lauren Boccardi, Senior Attorney for Impact Investing, The Nature Conservancy.
About the conference
Following an opening keynote address from Willem Van de Voorde (Ambassador, Special Envoy for Climate and Environment, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Belgium), the two-day conference programme brought together legal experts from across the globe to explore the critical trends shaping today’s legal sustainability landscape, including diverging approaches to ESG regulation in North America and Europe; likely implications of the EU Omnibus Package; challenges and opportunities posed by the energy transition and escalating climate risks; and impacts of Global North supply chain regulation on Global South jurisdictions, as well as sustainability trends in the fashion and telecommunications sectors.
This year, for the first time, the conference was preceded by a technical primer afternoon session, coordinated by the LPRU. This half day event led with opening remarks from Pascal Durand, Former Member of the European Parliament and Rapporteur on the EU CSRD, followed by insights from expert external and in-house advisors, offering practitioners the opportunity to level up their expertise in sustainability reporting and due diligence.
Reflecting on his learnings from the conference, Dino Serafini, ESG & Sustainability Legal Lead at Arendt, Secretary General of AIJA, said: ESG regulatory trends are heading in different directions: decarbonisation and the social-transition economy are boosting ESG interest in the Global South and Eastern jurisdictions, while North America and Europe are pulling back on climate rules. How do we move past opinions and focus on clear, technical legal arguments that help businesses in a time of “polycrisis”? Conferences like this one – which brought together speakers from every continent, industry, and practice area – are a practical way to start. By combining global insights, regulatory updates, and perspectives from both industrial and financial players—small firms and multinationals alike—we can better define what the “level playing field” really means and suggest workable solutions to today’s environmental, social, and governance challenges. As ESG requirements keep changing, private practitioners are essential in guiding clients toward sustainable operations within a stable social framework. At the same time, developing the technical skills of this new “sustainability law” field offers a business opportunity for today’s lawyers and the next generations.
Speaking on the conference, John Vellone, Partner and National Leader, Energy, Resources & Renewables, Borden Ladner Gervais / Chair, ESG Conference Planning Committee / Communications Officer, IBA Power Law Committee, said: ‘As we close this year’s ESG Conference, The Brussels Effect at a Crossroads, we saw that ESG is being reshaped, not abandoned. Despite political headwinds and regulatory divergence across jurisdictions, our discussions in Paris revealed a shared yet tempered optimism across the globe and a continued resolve to shape meaningful ESG frameworks.’
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