EIT Climate-KIC at COP26

The Hub is a newly established initiative that promotes transformative innovations to deliver the required changes for a low-emissions climate-resilient future. It aims at fostering international collaboration and establishing a physical and virtual platform to expand the global innovation space to meet the current and future needs required to achieve the 1.5-degree Celsius goal of the Paris Agreement. The initiative is launched by the UN Climate Change and supported by core partner organizations such as EIT Climate-KIC, the Research Institute of Sweden (RISE), the European Commission, Mission Innovation, and the Open Earth Foundation.

The Hub will provide a global cross-disciplinary community of practice with a space, both physical and virtual, to share ideas and design climate solutions in a spirit of radical collaboration. Speakers will include governments officials at all levels, urban planners, digital technology companies, corporations, incubators, accelerators, scientists and researchers and many more from around the world.

You can join this session through the live link above. Please note, that no registration is possible and that the digital seats will be offered on a “first come, first served” basis to maximise the audience capacity of these sessions.

Visit the Hub Website

A growing community of practice around systems innovation is seeking to galvanize with city and regional governments as a means of getting past the inherent and persistent limitations of established climate action by cities, which are profoundly limited by issues of agency to act, governance and policy for scaled implementation, economic circumstances that undermine capacity and institutional capabilities, and an appreciation among capital markets to accept new market structures to suit the imperatives of full decarbonization. 

These challenges are immense, but through attention to building strong relationships based on trust, investing deeply in capacity and capabilities, and working alongside an intermediary with systems innovation expertise, cities have been able to embrace a new way of working. As we consider the insights gained from this early work, we can better inform actions of others through peer sharing while also creating new opportunities to discover transformative breakthroughs. The session will introduce participants to this work and create an environment for learning together. 

Cities Session Programme

Moderated by Ole Tillmann

The Hub is a newly established initiative that promotes transformative innovations to deliver the required changes for a low-emissions climate-resilient future. It aims at fostering international collaboration and establishing a physical and virtual platform to expand the global innovation space to meet the current and future needs required to achieve the 1.5-degree Celsius goal of the Paris Agreement. The initiative is launched by the UN Climate Change and supported by core partner organizations such as EIT Climate-KIC, the Research Institute of Sweden (RISE), the European Commission, Mission Innovation, and the Open Earth Foundation.

The Hub will provide a global cross-disciplinary community of practice with a space, both physical and virtual, to share ideas and design climate solutions in a spirit of radical collaboration. Speakers will include governments officials at all levels, urban planners, digital technology companies, corporations, incubators, accelerators, scientists and researchers and many more from around the world.

You can join this session through the live link above. Please note, that no registration is possible and that the digital seats will be offered on a “first come, first served” basis to maximise the audience capacity of these sessions.

This 60-minute virtual session is part of the EU Side Event programme. It brings together speakers from EU bodies in addition to regional and city representatives. The interactive panel discussion will showcase action on the ground, demonstrating the opportunities that climate adaptation offers regions for economic development, growth and nurturing well-being. Audience participation will be encouraged to understand the barriers and opportunities of embedding climate change adaptation in development agendas.

The need for climate adaptation and resilience-building solutions around the world is significant given the climate emergency. Early-stage companies with technologies, products, and services relevant for building climate resilience to the effects of climate change in developing and emerging countries are increasingly coming to the fore. However, due to gaps in the innovation ecosystem, they typically lack adequate access to finance and the skills required to bring their offering to markets and reach an investment-ready stage.

To bridge these gaps, EIT Climate-KIC and the CDC Group have been partnering to scope and accelerate the development of promising ideas into scalable adaptation and resilience business solutions. In this effort, Climate-KIC has been working with local in country partners e.g., local incubators and accelerators.

The event will showcase early-stage companies offering innovative climate adaptation and resilience solutions in developing and emerging markets. Start-ups from Africa, Asia, and Latin America will pitch their solutions to an audience of potential ecosystem enablers, investors, policymakers, and other innovators. It will also host a panel discussion on how investors and innovators are helping them to grow.

more information to follow

This event is hosted by OECD and Scottish Enterprise, in association with UK and Scotland. It builds on the Rural Agenda for Climate Action, which calls for for a stronger role for rural policies to contribute to climate change goals, drawing attention to much-needed policy action in six areas: (1) capacity-building; (2) evidence base; (3) renewable energy; (4) land-use and ecosystem services; (5) circular and bio-economy; and (6) decarbonising transport. Following a high-level panel, EIT Climate-KIC’s Andy Kerr will provide the keynote intervention on the role of innovation to support rural climate action, which will be then be discussed by an expert group. The event will then split into three parallel sessions, on carbon saving from land management; taking renewable energy to the next level; and fostering the circular and bio-economy.

A live stream of the event will be available on the day.

Climate change poses a significant challenge and opportunity to the world’s innovators, particularly in using new technologies to adapt to global warming. Rapid scientific progress through digitalisation and Life Sciences – from absorbing carbon or nitrogen from the air with biological processes for producing food or fertiliser to advancing sustainable production of cultivated meat and artificial protein – open new opportunities to tackle climate change.

Yet achieving scale for these new ideas, which aim to reduce greenhouse emissions as well as limit land use, remains a challenge. Pragmatic new policy frameworks must be developed while investments of public and private resources are needed to accelerate innovation. These cutting-edge technologies also require societal acceptance before they can be used on a large scale.

The “take-make-waste” model of production and consumption dominating our linear economy today is not only highly wasteful but also an essential contributor to climate change. Up to 45% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are associated with land management and the production of consumer goods, food, fashion, buildings, and other products used day-to-day. Cities, entrepreneurs, and youth organisations have already implemented circular solutions that can pave the way for a prosperous net-zero economy that is fit to meet the needs of the next generation.

A circular economy is based on three principles, all driven by design: eliminate waste and pollution, keep products and materials in use, and regenerate natural systems. This model replaces the ‘end-of-life’ concept by stimulating community-based, technological and/or behavioural innovations in all areas of our society. Circular solutions focus on economic value creation and retention with the resources we already have in use, helping us tackle global environmental challenges such as climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss.

The event will showcase inspiring stories from the community, business, and youth perspectives on how the circular economy contributes to climate targets.

The sessions will take a holistic approach, from production to consumption, looking at issues of climate, health, biodiversity, resilience and regeneration which are all interrelated and need to be considered jointly in the transformation process. Taking a systemic view, it aims to identify how best innovation can transform whole value chains, improve consumption patterns toward healthier diets, embed food production in entire landscapes in order to manage the inevitable tensions between production and conservation activities, and finally how policies and private sector actions can integrate and benefit from these innovative approaches.

Food Systems Sessions Programme

Hosted by Ikenna Azuike

14:00 – 14:50 GMT   

Session 1: Food systems transformation: taking holistic approaches

Speakers:

• Marcela Navarro, CEO, Project X
• Dr Andy Zynga, CEO, EIT Food
• Dr Kirsten Dunlop, CEO, EIT Climate-KIC
• Margaret N. Kim, CEO, The Gold Standard Foundation

15:00 -15:50 GMT     

Session 2: Reducing the food production footprint through low-carbon practices, circular approaches and enhancing the soil carbon sink

Speakers:            

• Cliona Howie del Rio, CEO, Foundation Earth
• Lisa Sweet, Head of Future of Protein, COVID Response, and Food-Health, World Economic Forum
• Barbara Baarsma, CEO, Rabobank (Carbon Bank)
• David Kat, Senior Vice-President , Wasteless
• Christine Brunel-Ligneau, Head of Sustainable Agriculture, Bayer                              

16:00 – 16:50 GMT    

Session 3: How do we address key health and nutrition challenges within 1.5º?   

Speakers:

• Saskia Nuijten, Director of Public Engagement & Communications, EIT Food
• Jane Liu & Aran Shaunak, Editor & Editor in Chief, FoodUnfolded
• Hanneke Feber, Global President Food & Beverage, Unilever
• Anthony Finbow, CEO, Eagle Genomics

17:00 – 17:50 GMT    

Session 4: Broadening the view: landscape approaches to address the tensions between production and conservation

Speakers:

• Sara Scherr, President and CEO, EcoAgriculture Partners
• Joao Campari, Food Systems Program Lead, WWF International
• Stineke Oenema, Executive Secretary, FAO, UN Nutrition
• Andy Griffith, Head of Value Chain Sustainability, Nestle
• Jean-Francoisl Soussana, VP Environment, INRAE

The Hub is a newly established initiative that promotes transformative innovations to deliver the required changes for a low-emissions climate-resilient future. It aims at fostering international collaboration and establishing a physical and virtual platform to expand the global innovation space to meet the current and future needs required to achieve the 1.5-degree Celsius goal of the Paris Agreement. The initiative is launched by the UN Climate Change and supported by core partner organizations such as EIT Climate-KIC, the Research Institute of Sweden (RISE), the European Commission, Mission Innovation, and the Open Earth Foundation.

The Hub will provide a global cross-disciplinary community of practice with a space, both physical and virtual, to share ideas and design climate solutions in a spirit of radical collaboration. Speakers will include governments officials at all levels, urban planners, digital technology companies, corporations, incubators, accelerators, scientists and researchers and many more from around the world.

You can join this session through the live link above. Please note, that no registration is possible and that the digital seats will be offered on a “first come, first served” basis to maximise the audience capacity of these sessions.

It will further reveal common challenges and provide recommendations for policymakers to guide the development and implementation of national, regional and local adaptation plans and strategies. Furthermore, it will show how mainstreaming adaptation through key relevant sectors can help accelerate ambition and how regional governments are working hand in hand with their national and local counterparts, fostering a multi-level governance approach for climate action.

RegionsAdapt is an official partner of the Race to Resilience and will present at COP26 a reinforced initiative. EIT Climate-KIC, also an official partner of the Race to Resilience, is a partner of this event. 

What makes a place resilient to climate change? How are different regions approaching the challenges they are facing due to climate change? What does good adaptation governance look like? What can we learn from other approaches to climate change?

Join the Scottish Government, the Californian State Government, Adaptation Scotland and EIT Climate KIC as we explore these questions and more in our interactive Climate Change Adaptation Lab.

The Hub is a newly established initiative that promotes transformative innovations to deliver the required changes for a low-emissions climate-resilient future. It aims at fostering international collaboration and establishing a physical and virtual platform to expand the global innovation space to meet the current and future needs required to achieve the 1.5-degree Celsius goal of the Paris Agreement. The initiative is launched by the UN Climate Change and supported by core partner organizations such as EIT Climate-KIC, the Research Institute of Sweden (RISE), the European Commission, Mission Innovation, and the Open Earth Foundation.

The sessions in this Innovation Hub event will explore multiple perspectives, innovation ideas, research and insights, new businesses, movements and collaborations with respect to the choices and options we have to transform our ways of thinking about and creating or re-creating shelter – to protect ourselves, to protect our future and to regenerate the planet.

Our Shelter Sessions Programme

Hosted by Ikenna Azuike

14:00 – 14:50 GMT          

Session 1: Shelter as human need and expression of identity        

Speakers:

• Patrycja Slawuta, Founder and CEO, Self-Hackatho
• John Onians, Director, Sainsbury Centre for World Art
• Thomas Hubl, Author
• Cara Peek, Head of Innovation, The Cultural Intelligence Project                                                                                                                                  

15:00 – 15:50 GMT

Session 2: Shelter as a climate adaptation and crisis action           

Speakers

• Alastair Parvin, Founder and CEO, Wikihouse
• Shigeru Ban, Founder, Shigeru Ban Architects
• Maarten van Aalst, Climate risk Director, Red Cross Red Crescent Centre

16:00 – 16:50 GMT

Session 3: Shelter as means to climate change mitigation and decarbonisation    

Speakers:

• John Schellnhuber, Director Emeritus, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
• James Drinkwater, Head of Built by Nature, Built by Nature / Laudes Foundation
• Marco Poletto, Co-Founder, ecoLogicStudio

17:00 – 17:50 GMT          

Session 4: Planet as Shelter        

Speakers:

• Bernhard Barth, UN Habitat
• Federica Di Palma, Professorial Fellow in Biodiversity, School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia / Chief Scientific Officer and Vice President, Sectors at Genome British Colombia, Earth Biogenome Project
• Eva Gladek, CEO, Metabolic

You can join these sessions through live links that will be made available on this page shortly. Please note, that no registration is possible and that the digital seats will be offered on a “first come, first served” basis to maximise the audience capacity of these sessions.

This session will bring together leaders from the private sector and civil society to discuss how this can be done in a way that requires investment and innovation from many different sectors but also ensures that this is done in an inclusive way, and with integrity – for people, for nature, and the climate.

Speakers:

• Opening remarks: Gonzalo Muñoz, Founder, TriCiclos
• Moderator: Chris Buss, Director – Forest Conservation Programme, IUCN
• Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council
• Josefina Braña Varela, Vice President and Deputy Lead – Forests, WWF
• John Kornerup Bang, Senior Vice President – Sustainability Transformation, Stora Enso
• Ara Erikson, Vice President – Corporate Sustainability, Weyerhaeuser
• Kirsten Dunlop, CEO, EIT Climate-KIC
• Paul King, Managing Director – Sustainability and Social Impact – Lendlease Europe, Lendlease