Building the Green Consensus

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While the United Nations has warned that we must reduce emissions by 50% by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5°C, mitigate environmental degradation, and halt catastrophic biodiversity loss, the latest assessment from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shows that we are well on our way to missing those targets. The task calls for an unprecedented scaling up of public and private finance to support both climate mitigation and adaptation. While the challenge is straightforward, the specific policies and strategies are not. Establishing a consensus on what to do and how to do it, both within and between countries and regions, will be the defining challenge of this generation and those yet to come.

Building the Green Consensus is one of two feature events at the center of our 2021 Climate Week coverage. Register now to join us for both events.

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Speakers

Agenda

Moderator: Jo Coburn
3:00PMKeynote Address
  1. Jeffrey D. Sachs, University Professor at Columbia University, is Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network
Session One – The Green Power of Public Finance
Once considered the bedrock of economic growth, fossil fuels have become synonymous with air pollution, land degradation, and – increasingly – socio-economic decline. Nonetheless, the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy will require significant investment over time, but especially in this current critical decade. It will also have far-reaching social and economic implications for all societies, but particularly communities reliant on fossil fuels and the legacy industries connected with them. How can green public finance drive private-sector investment to support both the green transition and the people most affected by it?
3:05PMPanel Discussion and Q&A with International Media:
  1. Pascal Canfin, MEP and Chair of the European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety
  2. Thierry Déau, CEO of Meridiam
  3. Mafalda Duarte, CEO of the Climate Investment Funds
  4. Kenneth Rogoff, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Harvard University
4:00PMBreak
Session Two – The Returns on Resilience
The UN Environment Program’s Adaptation Gap Report 2020 finds that while many countries have made progress in planning for climate change, there are still huge shortfalls in the financing needed to bring adaptation projects to fruition. This is especially true for developing countries that stand to bear the brunt of climate change. What role can the private sector play in financing adaptation and climate resilience, and what policies, taxonomies, and frameworks are needed to expand the opportunities for promising investments in this space?
4:20PMPanel Discussion and Q&A with International Media
  1. Barbara Buchner, Director of Climate Policy Initiative
  2. Ekhosuehi Iyahen, Secretary-General of the  Insurance Development Forum
  3. Omar Razzaz, Former Prime Minister of Jordan
  4. Erion Veliaj, Mayor of Tirana
5:10PMBreak
Session Three – Why Public Finance Matters

Public financial institutions will play a key role in achieving the Paris targets, both by supporting projects on the ground and by moving broader markets and practices in the right direction. Now and in the years ahead, this work will be necessary for driving a robust green recovery, delivering a just transition away from fossil fuels, developing more resilient infrastructure and economic systems, and effecting global change. 

Since the EU accounts for less than 10% of global emissions, its greatest contribution will come not from decarbonization at home but from its leadership toward a Global Green Deal. By collaborating with each other and other Multilateral Development Banks around the world, the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will be at the forefront of this effort.
5:25PMIn Conversation
  1. Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank
  2. Odile Renaud-Basso, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

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What they are saying

  1. Many people here at the bank agree that this was the most professional looking, well moderated, and entertaining event we have supported or participated in... The speakers were top-level and highly knowledgable throughout, and the whole design was very slick.

    Dirk Heilmann
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