Join us!
The COP27 UN Climate Change Conference, hosted by Egypt this year, will take place from 6 to 18 November 2022 in Sharm El-Sheikh. In addition to advance global climate talks and action, this year’s climate conference will focus on the impact of climate change in Africa, a continent disproportionately vulnerable to floods, drought, and extreme heat.
Given the immense global geopolitical challenges being driven by Ukraine, Syria, Yemen and COVID pains on cost of living and disruption on supply chains, this year’s focus on Africa is likely to bring some very intense discussions, especially around adaptation (with a follow up on the Global Goal on Adaptation, and to make sure all countries demonstrate political will to assess progress towards enhancing resilience and assist the most vulnerable countries), finance (progress on delivery of the annual USD 100 billion, transparency of finance flows, facilitated access to meet the needs of developing countries, etc), as well as mitigation (with the implementation of the Glasgow pact to review ambition in National Determined Contributions), and collaboration.
As a key actor of climate action in Europe, EIT Climate-KIC is going to COP27 with the will to share our expertise towards place-based innovation, accelerated learning and action across high ambition cohorts of places. But we are also going there with the intent to listen to others actors, particularly from the Global South, and try to understand how our experience offering systems innovation as a service to a variety of contexts, could contribute to solve today’s most pressing global challenges.
EIT Climate-KIC is leading or contributing to sessions related to climate innovation during COP 27 and is inviting you below to join virtually or meet up in person. You can also follow us on social media under the hashtag #SystemsChangeNow.
Please note: all the events listed below are in Egypt local time (EET, corresponding to GMT+2).
Mon 7 Nov 2022
10:00 – 11:00 EET
Opening of the UN Climate Change Global Innovation Hub
Blue Zone, UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub Pavilion
EIT Climate-KIC is a core partner of the UN Climate Change Global Innovation Hub led by UNFCCC. EIT Climate-KIC CEO Kirsten Dunlop will participate in the launch event, where speakers will dive deep into the objectives and opportunities of this global project.
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.
Speakers
- Kirsten Dunlop, CEO, EIT Climate-KIC
- Dennis Pamlin, Mission Innovation
- Martin Wainstein, Executive Director, Open Earth Foundation
- Andy Deacon, Co-managing Director, Global Covenant of Mayor
Mon 7 Nov 2022
11:00 – 12:00 EET
High-level session on systems change and climate and sustainability innovations
Blue Zone, UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub Pavilion
Moderated by EIT Climate-KIC CEO Kirsten Dunlop, this high-level session will explore how moonshot mindset and systems thinking can serve an expanded climate and sustainability innovation space.
Watch the livestream (part 1)Watch the livestream (part 2)
The following panelists will share ideas, experience and plans for future actions that can contribute in encouraging the development and upscaled deployment of transformative and ambitious climate and sustainability solutions, in line with the 1.5-degree goal and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Speakers
- Rachel Kyte, Member of the CPI Board and Dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts University
- Jon Creyts, CEO, RMI
- James Mnyupe, Green Hydrogen Commissioner, Namibia
- Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Chairman, World Green Economy Organization (TBC)
- Mike Hayes, Global Head Renewable Energy, KPMG International (TBC)
Mon 7 Nov 2022
14:00 – 15:20 EET
Innovation in the UNFCCC process: National systems of innovation and digitalization
Blue Zone, UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub Pavilion
EIT Climate-KIC CEO Kirsten Dunlop will moderate this session, organised by the UNFCCC’s Technology Executive Committee (TEC) and Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN).
- Heleen C. De Coninck, Professor, Socio-Technical Innovation and Climate Change, Eindhoven University of Technology
- Dietram Oppelt, TEC member and NDE of Germany
- Surachai Sathitkunarat, Thailand NDE Focal Point National Designated Entity Thailand/ Assistant to the President Office of National Higher Education, Science, Research, and Innovation Policy Council
- Cathy Li, YOUNGO/WGC representative, former member of TEC taskforce
- Steven Minas, Member of TEC and CTCN Advisory Board and Gender focal point/ Associate Professor, School of Transnational Law, Peking University/Senior Research Fellow, Transnational Law Institute, King’s College London
Mon 7 Nov 2022
16:00 - 16:30 EET
Press conference: Building African innovation ecosystems
Press Conference Room “Luxor”
Join our press conference, where the following speakers will intervene:
- Audrey S-Darko, Founder & CEO, Sabon Sake
- Andy Kerr, Chief Strategy Officer, EIT Climate-KIC
- Cassia Moraes, Strategic Programmes Builder, EIT Climate-KIC
Mon 7 Nov 2022
16:00 - 17:00 EET
Global South – Global North cooperation on the digital and green twin transition
Blue Zone, UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub Pavilion
This high-level panel, moderated by EIT Climate-KIC CEO Kirsten Dunlop, brings together development stakeholders from the Global South, the UNFCCC, the European Commission, Germany, and Sweden with a common mission: promoting the digital and green “twin transition” through innovative cooperative approaches.
This session will aim to:
- Continue the dialogue between policy makers from the Global South and high-level representatives of the European Commission, Germany and Sweden on an inclusive digital & green twin transition;
- To identify potential areas of cooperation on leveraging digital technologies for climate action & sustainability.
Speakers
- Koen Doens, Director-General for International Partnerships, European Commission
- Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven, Management Board, GIZ
- Carin Jämtin, Director-General, SIDA
- Milagros De Camps, Vice Minister of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Dominican Republic
- Diana Laguna, Vice Minister of Environment, Panama
- Susana Muhamad, Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Colombia
Mon 7 Nov 2022
17:00 - 18:00 EET
City‐focused innovation and implementation session
Blue Zone, UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub Pavilion
Andy Kerr, Chief Strategy Officer at EIT Climate-KIC, will join this session focusing on the Goyang city demonstration pilot, and will discuss the potential to extend its methodology towards cities around the globe.
Tue 8 Nov 2022
9:30 - 11:00 EET
Resilience Frontiers Lab: Transforming humanity’s relationship with nature
Resilience Frontier Pavilion
To secure the long-term wellbeing of people and the planet, we must live in harmony with nature. Which means engaging in everyday activities that have a net positive effect on nature.
We can achieve this symbiotic oneness by harnessing many of the tools that are already available to us, including the knowledge of indigenous peoples – their replicable values and practices, which currently maintain 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity; and by using frontier technologies in ways that help us enrich, rather than deplete, our environment.
EIT Climate-KIC CEO Kirsten Dunlop will intervene at this opening session of the Resilience Frontier Pavilion.
Tue 8 Nov 2022
10:00 - 16:00 EET
Cities Day at UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub
Blue Zone, UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub Pavilion
Sessions during this “Cities Day” at the UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub will highlight cities leading the way to climate neutrality, creating truly resilient and liveable cities for the future and the live challenges they are facing in area such as finance and capital, big data, energy transition and skills. The sessions will then bring these cities together with solutions providers and other actors to discuss how cities’ needs can be better met through new approaches to social, behavioural, policy, and finance innovation as well as through technology.
Session 1, 10:00 – 11:00 | Cities transformation: funding and investment needs
This session will take a demand/needs-based approach, providing space for cities to raise their challenges with key actors from private, public and third sector to learn more about city perspectives and needs. Through this engagement with various actors across all sectors, the session will elicit best practice and new insights about how to accelerate and scale effective solutions, i.e., how the ‘supply side’ of solutions and services can better respond.
Climate neutrality across cities will take massive amounts of money, both funding and investment capital for finance. One of the first steps in enabling systems innovation is creating a tool to enable cities and stakeholders to grasp this scale and begin to address these needs in strategic ways. No government can mobilise the needed capital, and so each city has to not only know what is required, they need to learn how to use their powers and public capital to leverage the kinds of private investments necessary.
Too often cities feel unable to engage with capital markets, and as result they only see project-based financing approaches that have been established and are comfortable for investors. But both climate neutrality and resilience demand a far more aggressive approach, including understanding how to use public resources to maximum effect in creating the right market context for private investment.
Cities need to learn how to do this, from the foundational economic case for decarbonisation to the specific capital structuring needed to attract the right capital for the right activities. They also need to understand how to best combine decarbonisation and adaptation activities from the financial perspective.
Speakers
- Divyata Ashiya, Long Term Investment Coalition
- Amanda Eichel, Resilience Now & Bezos Earth Fund, Jakarta City
- Jonas Kamleh, Lead Climate Strategist, City of Malmo, Sweden
- Julio Lumbreras, Founder and Directors of CitiES2030, Professor at Technical University of Madrid, Harvard School of Public Health, EU Cities Mission Board Member
- Michael Sheren, President & CSO, MVGX
- Rodrigo Massi, International Relations Coordinator, Sao Paulo City Hall
Session 2, 11:00 – 12:00 | Cities transformation: capability and mindset
Planners, engineers, and policy analysts are very good at their jobs. However, as cities look at climate neutrality and resilience imperatives, it is easy to see that other capabilities and mindsets are needed, both inside and in collaboration with city governments. As we move to thinking about working in cities and on climate action in new ways what does the community of actors need in terms of skills, including soft skills, which would really change the ability to work in complex systems and in systems innovation? What are the innovative approaches that best support accelerated learning by doing?
- Solla Zophoniasdottir, Director of Learning, EIT Climate-KIC
- Emma Presutti, Chora
- Axel Grael, Mayor of Niterói, Brazil
- Reham Youssef, Egypt CO, UNDP
- Noboa Eduardo, The BMW Foundation / Herbert Quandt
- Raj Kalia Dark Matter Labs
Session 3, 12:00 – 13:00 | Women entrepreneurs in Africa
This session will introduce the tools and resources developed by EIT Climate-KIC (such as the Gender Smart handbook) and the British International Investment (such as The Gender Smart Climate Finance Guide), followed by a panel discussion exploring the challenges and solutions for lowering access barriers to financing and acceleration services for women entrepreneurs, particularly in Africa.
A prosperous, inclusive and climate-resilient society means pursuing equal opportunities for all. In a world of diverse needs and perspectives, so essential to innovation, women bring distinctive leadership qualities, social change capabilities and entrepreneurial skills that are essential of our remaking of ourselves. Gender equality including should be at the centre of climate action. However, women are still heavily underrepresented in entrepreneurship around the world, including in the growing African innovation ecosystem.
In order to address this disparity, solutions to barriers on both the supply- and demand-side must be implemented. Women are heavily underrepresented in climate-tech accelerator programmes globally, creating real lack of women-led investor-ready start-ups. Compounding this, women-led start-ups receive a disproportionately small amount of investment compared to their male counterparts, and this is particularly visible in the African context.
This session will focus specifically on the role women are playing in innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa and how barriers to access to finance and entrepreneurship can be further addressed, based on the experience of African support organisations working with EIT Climate-KIC to implement pilot projects that address gender-related barriers to accelerator programmes, as well as female entrepreneurs themselves.
Speakers
- Nicola Mustetea, British International Investment
- Audrey S-Darko, Sabon Sake
- Collins Kimaro, Westerwelle Foundation / ANZA
- Maeve McLynn, Irish Aid
Session 4, 14:00 – 15:00 | African innovation ecosystems: accelerating climate solutions for a net-zero continent
Perspectives shared at this session will include those from the ‘Adapt, mitigate, and grow: an analysis of climate tech innovation in Africa‘ report, which offers insights into the synergies between key stakeholders, the state of the market, and the growth of the climate tech industry in Africa.
Panelists will share their practical experience and insights of supporting and scaling climate innovation in Africa.
To date, Africa’s share of global emissions represents only two to three per cent of the world’s total. Yet it is one of the regions most negatively affected by climate change through the increased prevalence of extreme weather events and direct consequences related to food security and livelihoods.
As a result, there is a growing consensus to support countries across the region to reduce the reliance on high-pollution industries associated with economic development and instead adopt renewable sources and promote an energy transition in line with goals for low-carbon growth. Climate-friendly technologies are increasingly being seen as a way to support this transition.
Speakers
- Prabhakar Vanam, Kenya CIC
- Cassia Moraes, EIT Climate-KIC
- Audrey S-Darko, Sabon Sake
- Sinead Walsh, Irish Aid
- George Mulamula, Digital Innovation & Business Incubator Tanzania
- Jade Bouhmouch, Ambo Ventures
- Joshua Murima, Briter Bridges
Tue 8 Nov 2022
19:30 - 20:30 EET
Pathways of transition: Accelerating technological innovations
SDG Pavilion, Blue Zone
This side event, organised by the Global Sustainable Technology and Innovation Community (G-STIC), will explore pathways for transition with a focus on bridging the gap between innovation-driven technology and stakeholder-owned transformative policy scenarios.
EIT Climate-KIC CEO Kirsten Dunlop will intervene at this event, which wants to inspire all stakeholders by showcasing market-ready, innovative integrated technological solutions as examples of doable ways to bring about paradigm shifts and move societies and economies onto more sustainable development paths.
The global pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have left the world in chaos. It is this chaos that underlines the importance of the 2030 Agenda and the urgency for action. To guarantee a sustainable and just way forward, it is crucial to harness the power of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) to address all aspects of the 2030 Agenda.
Technological innovations that could accelerate the implementation of the SDGs and move us on to a much more sustainable path already exist all over the world: wastewater treatment, desalination, carbon capture and use, big data, artificial intelligence and 3D-printing are just some examples. The problem is not with the technologies themselves, but the lack of awareness among policy makers and society in general about how they can be harnessed, scaled up and implemented as part of the 2030 Agenda.
Speakers
- Kirsten Dunlop, CEO, EIT Climate-KIC
- Nísia Trindade Lima, President, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz)
- Suruchi Bhadwal, Director Earth Science and Climate Change, TERI
- Kehkashan Basu, Founder-President, Green Hope Foundation
- Ilke Geleyn, Programme Manager, G-STIC
Wed 9 Nov 2022
10:00 - 11:30 EET
UNFCCC Futures Lab: Radical Collaboration to Accelerate Climate Action
Room 1 of the Climate Action Zone & online
Making progress on climate mitigation, adaptation, and restoration requires many stakeholders to work together across deep differences.
Join this Futures Lab to learn from climate collaboration practitioners from around the world about how they have used radical collaboration to produce results with speed, scale, and justice, and to engage with peers and apply the seven practices of radical collaboration to your own important and challenging climate action effort.
EIT Climate-KIC CEO Kirsten Dunlop will intervene at this session organised by the Radical Climate Collaboration initiative.
Wed 9 Nov 2022
13:15 - 14:45 EET
Fostering technology innovation to support countries in implementing the Paris Agreement
Room 1, Akhenaten
EIT Climate-KIC CEO Kirsten Dunlop will speak at this UNFCCC Technology Mechanism side event, organised by the Technology Executive Committee (TEC), on fostering technology innovation to support countries in implementing the Paris Agreement.
This event aims to:
- Facilitate a high-level dialogue among innovation leaders on their vision and actions on climate technology;
- Amplify voices from technology practitioners, innovators, and other stakeholders on their needs, success stories, and priorities regarding technology innovation and collaborative research, development, and demonstration;
- Present the current and future work of the Technology Mechanism on innovation, and discuss its role in fostering accelerated diffusion and upscaling of climate technologies.
Article 10, paragraph 5 of the Paris Agreement states that accelerating, encouraging and enabling innovation is critical for an effective, long-term global response to climate change and to promote economic growth and sustainable development. Countries’ capabilities to drive and enable climate technology innovation are therefore crucial.
The technology framework, adopted at COP 24 in Katowice, guides the work of the Technology Executive Committee (TEC) and the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) – the two bodies of the Technology Mechanism – under the Paris Agreement. It identifies innovation as a key area of work for delivering environmentally and socially sound, cost-effective and better-performing climate technologies on a larger scale.
The recent IPCC Sixth Assessment Report on Mitigation for the first time contained a chapter on ‘innovation, technology development and transfer’, highlighting the importance of adopting a systemic approach to innovation as an enabler of accelerated action on mitigation. It emphasizes that innovations occur in dynamic processes emerging from interactions between different actors and between research and development, economic application, and improvisation through learning by doing and learning by using.
Against this backdrop, innovation is poised to play a central role in the first work programme of the Technology Mechanism for 2023-2027, as a major driver of the development and diffusion of transformative climate technology solutions.
Agenda
13:15 – 13:16 | OPENING AND INTRODUCTION
13:16 – 13:20 | WELCOMING AND SCENE-SETTING
– Ambrosio Yobanolo del Real, Chair, TEC
– Omedi Moses Jura, Chair, CTCN Advisory Board
13:20 – 13:30 | ENLIGHTENING TALK
13:30 – 14:15 | ROUNDTABLE: PERSPECTIVES FROM INNOVATION LEADERS
– Moderator: Rose Mwebaza, Director of the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN)
– Bertrand Piccard (Chairman, Solar Impulse Foundation)
– Kirsten Dunlop (Chief Executive Officer, EIT Climate-KIC)
– Mikko Ollikainen (Manager, Adaptation Fund)
14:15 – 14:30 | Q&A
14:30 – 14:40 | TESTIMONIALS FROM INNOVATION UNDER THE TECHNOLOGY MECHANISM
14:40 – 14:45 | CLOSING AND ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE FIRST TM WORK PROGRAMME 2023-2027
Wed 9 Nov 2022
16:30 - 17:30 EET
An expanded innovation space for transformative climate solutions
SDG Pavilion
EIT Climate-KIC CEO Kirsten Dunlop will intervene at this session, organised by the UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub. The event will set the scene on the need of an expanded innovation space for climate action, and will address the opportunities for a need-based and solution-oriented approach that satisfies the core human needs for food, shelter, mobility, and access via alternative value chains aligned with the SDGs and compatible with 1.5.
Wed 9 Nov 2022
16:30 - 18:30 EET
Lifelong learning for environmental stewardship
Resilience Frontiers Pavilion
Lifelong learning should instil in every citizen a sense of belonging to nature an appreciation of the role we all have to play in nurturing it. By harnessing indigenous ideas which teach people to live with nature in a way that will benefit children seven generations into the future, we can lay the foundation on which we build a climate-resilient world together.
This session will be moderated by Solla Zophoniasdottir, Director of Learning, EIT Climate-KIC.
Wed 9 Nov 2022
19:00 - 21:00 EET
Solutions dialogues: Scaling regenerative economies and business
Companies across the globe increasingly demonstrate that they can be more successful because they regenerate people, societies and nature. But we are nowhere near the speed and scale necessary to develop a new economic mainstream that meets our decarbonisation targets nor our regenerative needs. This will take more ambitious business and policy leadership.
EIT Climate-KIC CEO Kirsten Dunlop will join this interactive session hosted by the Club of Rome, where business leaders, investors, activists and policy leaders will discuss how to achieve this large-scale transformation that serves people and the planet while enhancing prosperity for all.
Thu 10 Nov 2022
16:00 - 17:00 EET
Nordic rural voices in the global change
Nordic Pavilion
EIT Climate-KIC CEO Kirsten Dunlop will intervene at this session organised by the Municipality of Sønderborg, Denmark.
Thu 10 Nov 2022
18:30 - 19:30 EET
On transformative leadership for climate resilience
Resilience Frontiers Pavilion
Solla Zophoniasdottir, Director of Learning, EIT Climate-KIC, will co-host this session, organised by EIT Climate-KIC and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).
EIT Climate-KIC and IIED are moving forward with implementing the EU Climate Adaptation mission. This includes supporting the transformative leadership capabilities of current and future leaders at regional and local levels. Our aim is to go beyond traditional climate adaptation training programmes and develop a more holistic approach to support personal transformation of leaders.
The focus is on working with young, elected leaders; young leaders of government executives; and youth leaders of community organisations. The aim is to take this beyond Europe and integrate it with programmes such as the LDC Initiative for Effective Adaptation and Resilience (LIFE-AR) programme.
Fri 11 Nov 2022
12:40 - 13:20 EET
Can we rely on innovation to curb the current >2 degrees trajectory?
Sustainable Innovation Forum, Climate Action Innovation Zone
Mitigating emissions and adapting to expected global temperature rise requires technological, financial and political innovation. This innovation must be breakthrough, transformational and systemic. Incremental change is not enough.
This session, moderated by EIT Climate-KIC CEO Kirsten Dunlop, brings together disruptors, technology and innovation specialists and the finance and investment sector to discuss:
- What needs to happen to accelerate commercialisation of technologies still under development?
- How can we develop supportive ecosystems and infrastructure that that scale deployment and embed new technologies?
- How do we support innovations that strengthen social resiliency and climate preparedness?
- David Giordano, Global Head of Climate Infrastructure Platform, Blackrock
- Dr. Gayane Gabrielyan, Deputy Minister of Environment, Armenia
- Mishal Almutlaq, Chief Investment Officer, Global Development, Alfanar
- Margaret Kuhlow, Global Finance Practice Leader, World Wildlife Fund
Sat 12 Nov 2022
12.00-13.00 EET
How can we build Nothing? Breaking down barriers to sustainable and climate-friendly buildings for the future
Nordic Pavilion
The construction sector is one of the big global GHG emitters. Our built environment is responsible for 40% of global carbon emissions. A global transition to net-zero requires the industry to radically reduce its emissions.
EIT Climate-KIC CEO Kirsten Dunlop will intervene at this session, organised by SUSTAINORDIC and Nordic Sustainable Construction, on how to break down barriers to sustainable and life-centric construction.
Sat 12 Nov 2022
16:00 – 17:15 EET
Deploying finance to 1000 landscapes by 2030
UNDP Sustainable Finance Pavilion
Join this session organised by EIT Climate-KIC together with 1000 Landscapes for 1 Billion People, UNDP, EcoAgriculture Partners and Rainforest Alliance.
Speakers will describe the approach, and the collaborative roadmap under development to catalyze finance system innovation and scaling. Participants are invited to contribute to the strategy.
Through “integrated landscape finance’” local partnerships design a multi-sector set of landscape investments, coordinated to achieve regeneration at scale, and secure the diverse financing needed for these investments.
The 1000 Landscapes for 1 Billion People initiative is a radical collaboration of organizations working to strengthen landscape partnerships. 1000L partners have identified key building blocks for an effective system of integrated landscape finance, aiming to meet climate and SDGs in 1000 landscapes.
Agenda
Moderator: Caroline van Leenders, Government of the Netherlands
Working with landscape partnerships to implement the exponential roadmap for natural climate: solutions through landscape partnerships
- Representative from Conservation International
Landscape-wide investment for sustainable development: strategies and impact assessment
- Jeff Milder, Rainforest Alliance
1000L collaborative roadmap for scaling integrated landscape finance
- Daniel Zimmer, EIT Climate-KIC
Finance mechanisms for integrated landscape-wide investment
- Paul Chatterton, Landscape Finance Lab
- Leslie Johnston, Chief Executive Officer, Laudes Foundation
Sat 12 Nov 2022
16:30 – 17:30 EET
The Adaptation Innovation Lab
Multi-level Action Pavilion, Blue Zone
EIT Climate-KIC and Regions4, in collaboration with the Government of Scotland, invite you to our Adaptation Innovation Lab at COP27 to discuss how regional governments around the world can develop a systemic solutions to adaptation strategies that put their communities at the heart.
The session will be facilitated by Dr Andy Kerr, Chief Strategy Officer of EIT Climate-KIC.
This session will:
- Discuss the key challenges regional governments face in developing climate adaptation responses, as well as examples of how these have been overcome,
- Explore how a systems innovation approach can potentially overcome these challenges, and
- Discuss with participants the support they need to explore this further and implement the approach in their own strategies.
Agenda
16:30 | Opening
- Government of Scotland (TBC)
16:35 | Introduction: a systems-level approach to developing region-wide adaptation strategies and drive innovation (30 minutes)
- Introduction to EIT Climate-KIC system’s level approach (Dr Andy Kerr, Chief Strategy Officer of Climate-KIC)
- Adaptation pathways (Natalia Uribe, Secretary General of Regions4)
16:40 | Roundtable panel: challenges facing regional governments in building systemic innovation strategies for adaptation and how it can be overcome
- Rt Hon. Mr. Cattaneo, Regional Minister, Environment and Climate Change, Lombardy, Vice-president for Europe Regions4
- Rt Hon. Mrs. Barnabas, Secretary of Environment, Government of Catalonia
- Mayor Errick Simmons of Greenville, Co-chair of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative
- Adolfo Uriarte, Director of Natural Territory and climate change of the Basque Country
- Griet Verstraeten, Policy Advisor on Climate Change Adaptation, Government Flanders
17:10 – 17:25 | Open floor discussion : what drives innovation, and replicable solutions
17:25 – 17:30 | Concluding remarks
Mon 14 Nov 2022
16:00-17:00 EET
Prosperity and protection of the environment: how cities can unlock the opportunities of the ecological transition?
The European Commission COP27 platform for side events
The Solar Impulse Foundation, fresh from identifying over 1,000 solutions that both protect the environment and are financially viable, have applied them across 50 pain points cities face to engage with the ecological transition and offering almost 200 solutions. Further, this event will look at what else can be done by cities to reduce their environmental footprint, speaking with mayors from leading cities as well as those organizations whose work is critical to helping cities meet their environmental objectives.
The session will be attended by Thomas Osdoba, NetZeroCities Programme Director, EIT Climate-KIC
The panel will cover four themes around systemic enablers of climate solutions implementation in
cities:
- Knowledge > Ensure cities have the knowledge and capacity to seize opportunities
- Procurement > Design procurement processes aligned with city climate objectives
- De-risk > De-risk clean and efficient technologies to increase the pace and scale of adoption
- Finance > Employ innovative financing mechanisms to enhance project feasibility
Agenda
16.00 – 16.05 | Presentation
From finding 1,000+ Solutions to boosting their implementation in cities
Dr. Bertrand Piccard, President & Founder, The Solar Impulse Foundation
16.05 – 16.15 | Presentation
The Solar Impulse Solutions Guide for Cities
Alexandra Barraquand, Strategic Products Lead, The Solar Impulse Foundation
16.15 – 16.45 | 30-minute Panel Discussion
How can cities unlock the opportunities of the ecological transition?
- Magali Anderson, Chief Sustainability and Innovation Officer, Holcim
- Carlos Moedas, Mayor, City of Lisbon
- Thomas Osdoba, Programme Director, NetZeroCities
- Bertrand Piccard, President & Founder, The Solar Impulse Foundation
16.45 – 17.00 | Q&A Session
Mon 14 Nov 2022
18:30 - 22:00 EET
Role of youth in climate change discourse: inspiring solutions from local to global levels
Climate Education Hub
The Future Climate Leaders, together with the Energy and Resources Institute and Evergreen Story, are organising an event about the role of youth in the climate change discourse.
- Solla Zophoniasdottir, Director of Learning, EIT Climate-KIC
- Aurelie Kalenga, Communications Manager, African Climate Reality Project
- Vidhu Kapur, Associate Fellow, Centre for Environmental Studies
- Naman Sonpar, an FCL Program student of The Shriram Millennium School, Noida, India
- Ashima Gulati, Executive Director, FCL Program, Evergreen Story
- Anya Fenn, Co-founder Evergreen Story, Project Manager FCL Program
- Anvi Fenn, Co-founder Evergreen Story, Project Manager FCL Program
- Malhar Kalambe, Founder of Beach Please, a youth community working for environmental conservation
Tue 15 Nov 2022
10:00 - 11:00 EET
Storytelling for climate action: COP27 and beyond
4th Capacity-building Hub, Blue Zone
This session aims to explore the major challenges of telling a fascinating climate story to enhance the effectiveness of capacity building and unlock the power behind those stories by utilising story canvas tools. The audience will hear and learn from powerful climate stories told by young climate activists from European countries and the Asia-Pacific region with diverse cultural backgrounds incl. First Nations.
Solla Zophoniasdottir, Director of Learning, EIT Climate-KIC, will facilitate this session, co-organised with Digital Storytellers, CliMates and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander International Engagement Organisation (ATSIIEO).
- Jack Collard, Director, ATSIIEO
- Monica Neupane, President of CliMates Nepal
- Prune Cyana Coline Lladser, Communications Coordinator, CliMates
- Jiangnan Shen, International Coordinator of CliMates China
- Moderator: Zirui Yao, President of CliMates Australia
Tue 15 Nov 2022
10:00 - 11:00 EET
Delivering the European Green Deal through holistic landscape restoration
Boardroom, Nature Zone Pavilion, Delegation area in Zone C, Blue Zone
Join fellow policy leads, EU representatives, landscape and nature experts for an interactive exchange on landscape scale action to deliver the EU Green Deal. Daniel Zimmer, Director of Sustainable Land Use at EIT Climate-KIC, will intervene at this session.
Discussion points will include:
- How holistic landscape restoration can help accelerate the green transition in Europe
- Policy recommendations to support integrated and systemic action via a landscape approach
- A common language to facilitate dialogue and collaboration at a local and national level
- Michal Nekvasil, Climate Change Adaptation Expert, DG CLIMA, European Commission
- Stientje van Veldhoven, Regional Director, WRI Europe
- Jesus-Maria Alquezar Sabadie, Socio-economic Analyst, DG Environment, European Commission
- Paul Chatterton, Founder, Landscape Finance Lab
- Victoria Gutierrez, Head of Global Policy, Commonland
Wed 16 Nov 2022
10:00 - 13:00 EET
Cultural & Creative Sector Industry at UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub
UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub Pavilion, Blue Zone
Session 1, 10:00 – 11:00 | Fashion Panel
This panel will focus on the digital tools that can help turn the fashion sector into a more sustainable industry.
The fashion industry accounts for up to 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Its main challenge is reducing its impact on the environment, also in view of the long and complex value chain. There are generally higher demands on companies, both in the form of soft rules from interest organisations, such as adherence to Agenda 2030, as well as complex regulations, such as the new EU taxonomy that came into force in 2022, which places demands on large companies. But greenwashing and the use of non-sustainable textiles are still prominent.
Moderation: Muchaneta ten Napel, Founder and CEO of Shape Innovate
Confirmed speakers:
- Laura Roja Uribe, Head of Merchandise and E-Commerce for Ninjas in Pyjamas
- Fredrik Timour, founder and CEO of the Fashion Innovation Centre
- Luca Bertolino, Head of Global Strategic Marketing FILA
Session 2, 11:00 – 12:00 | Calling for the Catalyst – Culture & Creative Industries joining the Climate Change Community
At this panel, we’ll bring policy makers, artists and climate activists together, to not only talk about possibilities but also to call out for action and draw up an international New European Bauhaus manifesto.
The New European Bauhaus (NEB) is a creative and interdisciplinary initiative that connects the European Green Deal to our living spaces and experiences. The NEB initiative calls on all of us to imagine and build together a sustainable and inclusive future that is beautiful for our eyes, minds, and souls.
Moderator: Lisa Lang, Director Policy & EU Affairs, EIT Climate-KIC
Speakers:
- Dr. Jefferson Gomes, Director of Innovation and Technology at SENAI National Department (Brazil)
- Farhana Yamin, Co-coordinator Cultural COP, Climate Justice & Just, Transition Donor Collaborative (UK)
- Ebtissam Mohamed Farid, architect, 50 most influential architects in the Middle East and North Africa, Co- founder ENCODE Studio (Egypt)
- Kirsten Dunlop, CEO, EIT Climate-KIC
- Sheela Patel, High-Level Roundtable Member, New European Bauhaus, Joint Research Centre
- Alison Gilliland, Member of the Committee of Regions, Dublin City Council
Session 3, 12:00 – 13:00 | Digital Arts & Sustainable Web
This panel symbolises the start of an ongoing inclusive conversation between civil society, government at all levels, Indigenous Peoples’ organisations, cultural organisations and institutions, businesses, universities and research organisations and other stakeholders – signalling our shared ambition to create just, thriving, and resilient communities today and into the future.
The planet is experiencing unprecedented climate change and the Internet is both part of the problem and the solution. From websites to cryptocurrencies and the rise of digital art, the Internet consumes large amounts of electricity in data centres, telecoms networks, and end user devices. If the Internet was a country, it would be the 7th largest polluter in the world and is expected to grow considerably by 2030.
Moderator: Muchaneta ten Napel, Founder and CEO of Shape Innovate
Confirmed speakers:
- Chris Adams, Director Green Web Foundation, co-founder Greening Digital
- Katherine Foster, Executive Director Green Digital Finance Alliance
- Miroslav Polzer, Miroslav Polzer, Founder & CEO of IAAI #Glocha, Chairperson Global Challenges Foundation
- Adriaan Eeckels, Science & Art (SciArt) Project Leader, European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC)
Wed 16 Nov
10:00 - 11:00 EET
Can nature-based solutions create the necessary resilience for ecosystems and communities in the Sahel’s Great Green Wall?
Food and Agriculture Pavilion (P65)
Daniel Zimmer, Director of Sustainable Land Use at EIT Climate-KIC, will be speaking on a panel at this event.
Across the Sahel and Great Green Wall, many local communities and entrepreneurs are tackling climate and land use challenges through locally led, market-driven green businesses that protect and restore farmland and forests. For example, restoration businesses balance profitability with social and environmental impact by sequestering carbon, combating desertification, and helping communities adapt to the effects of climate change, while securing local food systems and creating jobs in rural landscapes. Investing in them is key to creating a more sustainable future. United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Agroforestry and the World Economic Forum’s Trillion Trees initiative (1t.org) are pleased to host this session on nature-based solutions for enhancing resilience of ecosystems and communities in the Sahel and Great Green Wall.
Wed 16 Nov 2022
18:00 – 19:00 EET
EU Green Deal: from local to global
EU Pavilion, Room PLZEN
EIT Climate-KIC CEO Kirsten Dunlop will intervene at this session, organised by the European Committee of Regions. The event is chaired and moderated by Rafal Trzaskowski, ENVE commission chair.
The event will feature a dialogue with Committee of Regions delegation at COP27:
– Alison Gilliland, CoR member & Dublin City Councilor, IE.
– Olgierd Geblewicz, CoR members & President of West Pomerania Region, PL.
– Vincent Chauvet, CoR member & Mayor of Autun, FR.
– Jakub Chełstowski, CoR member & President of the Silesia Region, PL.
– Marieke Schouten, CoR member & Alderperson of Nieuwegein municipality, NL.
– Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, CoR member & President of Andalusia Region, ES.
Reaction by partners:
– Sharon Dijksma, Mayor of Utrecht and ICLEI’s Europe Special Envoy to COP27.
– Urszula Kasperek, Global Climate Diplomacy Manager. Under2 Coalition.
– Natalia Uribe, Secretary General Regions 4 (tbc).
– Ronan Dantec, President Climate Chance.
– Kirsten Dunlop, CEO, Climate KIC.
– Max Beijneveld, EU Policy Coordinator, Climate Alliance.
Thu 17 Nov 2022
12:00 - 13:00 EET
The roadmap to climate-neutral cities by 2030
Spanish Pavilion (Area B – Delegation Pavilions 3 – P27)
EIT Climate-KIC CEO Kirsten Dunlop will intervene at this panel, where she will discuss the importance of national platforms in the framework of the EU Mission for Climate Neutral and Smart Cities.
The session will also be the occasion for the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge to present its new Spanish Platform for the Climate Neutrality of Cities.
6 - 18 Nov 2022
Member Sessions at COP27
Sharm El-Sheikh | Virtual
The Members of EIT Climate-KIC are also leading or contributing to independent sessions related to climate innovation during COP27 and are inviting you to join virtually or in person: