In case you missed it…  Day 1 of The Innovation Zone

For the first time, we unveiled the Island of Hope, focused on the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions. In his opening keynote, H.E. President Surengal Whipps Jr, President of the Republic of Palau asked, “should our kids have to read about our islands and our culture in textbooks like they read about the dinosaurs?”. The Global Stocktake reiterates the existential threat facing small island developing states (SIDs) but President Whipps Jr’s was a message of hope – spotlighting the ‘Unlocking Blue Pacific Prosperity Plan’, which will create a protected area larger than the surface of the moon. 

This COP28 has so far seen a plethora of funding pledges and financial commitments from all sectors – including the agreement of a Loss and Damage Fund deal. Technical questions around implementation and mechanisms for distributing funding were front of mind today, with insurer Howden Group presenting what they see as the solution. David Howden, CEO, shared the group’s designs to use risk capital markets to deliver tens of billions of dollars of pre-arranged and guaranteed protection for the most climate-vulnerable countries.  

Our Flagship event series kicked off with The Sustainable Innovation Forum, which has been the largest private sector event at COP for the last 15 years, spanning policy, business, and finance. It began with a keynote address from H.E. Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, Chairman of Arctic Circle and former President of Iceland. We caught up with him afterwards and he stressed his optimism for the future: “My generation was brought up on the notion that only governments can enact change. That era is over [..] now other actors are creating waves of change, and you can see that here at the Innovation Zone.” 

The intimate setting of the Climate Action Stage delivered a packed agenda filled with promise and actionable takeaways. We were honoured to be joined by HRH Princess Lamia Bint Majed Saud AlSaud who emphasised three keys for success in partnerships between funders and communities: respect, support, and local relationships.  

We have come away inspired by the focus on tangible, measurable impact – not just ambition, but action.  

Don’t miss Day Two…  

Tomorrow starts with a keynote address from Ambassador Patricia Espinosa, CEO and Founding Partner at onepoint5 and former Executive Secretary of UNFCCC.  

Speakers at the Sustainable Innovation Forum will include Jim Skea, Chair, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; American investor and founder of Galvanize Climate Solutions, Tom Steyer; Gim Huay Neo, Head of the WEF’s Centre for Nature and Climate; and Razan Al Mubarak, High-Level Champion for the COP28 Presidency. 

The Premier of Bermuda and the President of the Caribbean Development Bank will be on the Island of Hope, and The Climate Action Stage agenda continues. Our opening discussion here will look at philanthropy’s role in climate mitigation, with Andrew Steer, President & CEO of Bezos Earth Fund and other fantastic speakers. 

We hope you can join us tomorrow as we highlight more positive actions, pioneering innovations, effective partnerships, progressive policies, and inspirational leadership that will enable us to drive climate action at speed and scale.  

Registrations remain open and everyone’s welcome: https://www.cop-28.org/registration  ;