In case you missed it… Day 4 of The Innovation Zone

Our fourth day of incredible content included the Hydrogen Transition Summit, which was kicked off by a keynote address from HE Sharif Salim Al-Olama, Undersecretary for Energy & Petroleum Affairs, Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, UAE. He opened with “climate COPs feature diverse views and biases, but one notable theme has been resonating this year – hydrogen, which I like to call a fuel of the future.”

Dr Samir Serhan, Chief Operating Officer at Air Products, the Summit’s headline sponsor, described the energy transition as “one of the most challenging issues of our time.” He stressed that whilst clean hydrogen is an effective way to decarbonise, “industries that have been heavily reliant on fossil fuels for years need certainty to be able to invest. They need to know that reliable, competitive, clean hydrogen at scale will be available when they need it.”

Meanwhile, Thomas Blood, CS Sustainability Leader, EMEA at Amazon Web Services shared an impactful case study with The National’s John Dennehy; describing how a project with London’s Natural History Museum designed to educate school children became a valuable map of the UK’s biosphere that is used by scientists and infrastructure engineers. It underscored the value of sharing data and innovations across sectors and industries to accelerate change.

Also on the Climate Action Stage, there was a pragmatic and action-focused discussion on The Buildings Breakthrough. Simon McWhirter of the UKGBC chaired a panel with Chris Skidmore MP, UK Government, Nasra Nanda of the Kenya Green Building Council and Knight Frank’s David Goatman. Key themes were the increasing importance of resilience in the build environment and retrofitting, with Skidmore saying, “Net Zero is not just about the shiny and the new and building more things. It is also about conserving and protecting and improving what we have.”

Inclusivity and the role of indigenous people as stewards of the Earth were top of the agenda on the Island of Hope. Luciano Doest, Researcher at the Centre for Agricultural Research, Suriname (CELOS) pointed out that 5% of the world population is indigenous and tribal folk but they protect 80% of our biodiversity.

Important takeaways from the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions included: first of all, that climate change is real and felt, but it's felt in different ways, secondly, there’s a lot of anger and frustration, and third, that there is an abundance of hope.

Join us for our final day…

Friday 8th December 2023 will see the Agri-Food Systems Forum – one-third of human-caused GHG emissions originate in the world’s agri-food systems, so reducing emissions here is vital. Hear from Global CEO of Fairtrade, the Netherlands’s Climate Envoy HRH Prince Jamie, Deputy Director of UN FAO and so many more.

It’s also Day 5 for the Island of Hope, focused on the small island developing states that have driven the loss and damage agenda for 30 years. Speakers include Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC, Secretary-General of The Commonwealth; co-founder of Global Refugee-led Network; and young leaders from the Caribbean Climate Justice Leadership Academy.

Climate Action Innovation Zone is a place to meet, network, learn and do business with refreshments served all day. Blue/Green Zone badging not required. https://www.cop-28.org/registration