"In 2021, we launched the Right Here Right Now Global Climate Alliance at the UN Climate Conference in Glasgow , with the support of artists such as Quincy Jones, Camila Cabello, and Leonardo DiCaprio. Since then, it has emerged as a leading climate justice initiative focused on advancing rights-based climate action.
Right Here, Right Now identifies climate change as the biggest challenge of our time, the human rights crisis that it is – one that requires rights-based solutions; and it seeks to reach and influence people across sectors including technology, education, sport, social-media, art, music, and more.”
Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
ABOUT
The Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance (RHRN) is a sweeping international movement that unites universities, youth, civil society, and the private sector to confront the climate crisis as the defining human rights challenge of our time. Powered by a sense of shared urgency and purpose, RHRN is placing people - especially those most vulnerable - at the center of climate action.
Launched at COP26 by global partner United Nations Human Rights, and supported by iconic voices such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Barbra Streisand, Neil Young and the late Quincy Jones, RHRN has rapidly grown into one of the world’s largest and most inclusive public-private climate alliances. From the historic halls of Oxford University, its global academic partner, to grassroots efforts across every continent, RHRN is activating a bold and unstoppable climate justice movement—led by youth, grounded in equity, and committed to collective action.
In alignment with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), RHRN champions rights-based climate action - because solutions that protect human dignity are not only more just, they are more effective, more sustainable, and more transformative.
RHRN convenes a dynamic coalition of policymakers, scientists, legal scholars, technologists, business leaders, artists, athletes, poets, photographers, and musicians - working in concert to spark real and lasting change. Whether through high-impact global summits, local actions, or worldwide campaigns amplified by some of the planet’s most influential voices, RHRN is rallying the world to rise -
right here, right now.
2025 Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit
The 2025 Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit (2-8 June, 2025) marked a significant milestone - becoming the largest climate justice gathering of its kind. Co-hosted by
United Nations Human Rights and the
University of Oxford, alongside leading academic institutions on six continents, the summit brought the world together in an unprecedented call for rights-based climate action. A live global broadcast from Oxford’s storied Sheldonian Theatre was anchored by a landmark address from
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk (pictured at right), who affirmed that climate change is the defining human rights crisis of our time.
During the summit, Oxford hosted 38 events, while others unfolded in parallel at universities worldwide. The summit mobilized an unprecedented range of voices - from scientists and legal scholars to artists, youth leaders, and frontline advocates - and was amplified by extraordinary public engagement.
Global luminaries including Neil Young, Barbra Streisand, Jeff Bridges, Billie Jean King, Jack Black, Annie Lennox, Cyndi Lauper, Dave Matthews, Minnie Driver, Jeremy Irons, Chelsea Handler, Pierce Brosnan, and many more lent their voices to the movement, extending its reach to tens of millions, underscoring the urgent, shared fight for climate justice.
Climate Change is a Human Rights Crisis
Right Here, Right Now humanizes the climate crisis by reframing it as the fundamental human rights crisis it is, as women, children, minorities, the poor and marginalized will continue to suffer the most as the climate catastrophe escalates.
Right Here, Right Now, its global partner United Nations Human Rights, and academic partner the University of Oxford, are committed to promoting, protecting, and advancing the rights of people around the world suffering from the devastating effects of climate change, starting with persons and communities already in disadvantageous situations owing to geography, poverty, gender, age, disability, cultural or ethnic background, among others, that have historically contributed the least to greenhouse gas emissions.
The 2023 Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states: Actions that prioritize equity, climate justice, social justice and inclusion lead to more sustainable outcomes, co-benefits, reduce trade-offs, support transformative change and advance climate resilient development. Adaptation responses are immediately needed to reduce rising climate risks, especially for the most vulnerable. Equity, inclusion and just transitions are key to progress on adaptation and deeper societal ambitions for accelerated mitigation.
GLOBAL INITIATIVES
The Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance is one of the most expansive and inclusive climate justice movements in the world - powered by global partner United Nations Human Rights, academic partner the University of Oxford, and a coalition of over 2,300 universities worldwide.
What sets the Alliance apart is its fusion of policy, technology, science, data, with the transformative power of art, photography, music, and the humanities. From world leaders to youth activists, from grassroots defenders to cultural icons, they engage every sector of society to confront the climate crisis through a human rights lens.
Their initiatives span the globe, and their celebrity driven social campaigns have already generated a social voice of over 2 billion - demonstrating that when advocacy is amplified by culture, it moves hearts, shifts norms, and drives action.
