André de Castro dos Santos

André de Castro dos Santos is a lawyer and geographer, and serves as Technical Director at LACLIMA (Latin American Climate Lawyers Initiative for Mobilizing Action). He works at the intersection of international climate law, climate governance, and institutional design for public policy. His practice combines rigorous legal analysis with the strategic coordination of applied research, technical briefs, and advocacy in multilateral processes—particularly under the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement—focusing on climate justice, domestic implementation, and the legal integrity of climate commitments. André also designs and delivers capacity-building initiatives for diverse stakeholders (civil society, public institutions, and subnational actors), supporting the translation of international decisions into practical implementation pathways and accountability frameworks.

Background

André Castro Santos is a lawyer and geographer with a doctoral-level academic profile and a professional and research trajectory centered on the UNFCCC regime and the domestic implementation of the Paris Agreement. His research critically examines the limitations and potential of international climate law, including compliance mechanisms, interactions with other areas of international law, and the role of external legal foundations—such as advisory opinions and international jurisprudence—in strengthening domestic litigation, oversight, and enforcement of climate-related obligations. He has closely followed UNFCCC negotiations across multiple cycles and has attended nine UN Climate Change Conferences (COPs) in person, combining on-the-ground negotiation experience with the production of technical-legal outputs that inform strategy, implementation, and accountability.

Research interests

• International climate law and global climate governance (UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement)

• Domestic implementation and the legal status/hierarchy of climate commitments (including NDCs)

• Climate justice, accountability, and non-regression in climate policy and law

• Interactions between the climate regime and other areas of international law; use of advisory opinions and jurisprudence to support climate litigation

• Transparency, climate finance, adaptation, and loss and damage; institutional arrangements and implementation capacity