Leaders4Climate | Connect4Climate

Mafalda Duarte presents at SEforALLforum in Lisbon

Mafalda Duarte, Head, $8.3 billion Climate Investment Funds (CIF), at the Sustainable Energy for All Forum in Lisbon, Portugal.

Watch all Sustainable Energy For All Forum 2018 videos

Riccardo Puliti explains how the World Bank is investing in clean energy at SEforALLforum

[video:https://vimeo.com/268504308]

Riccardo Puliti, Senior Director, Energy at World Bank Group explains how the World Bank is investing sustainable energy for all.

Watch all Sustainable Energy For All Forum 2018 videos

Dr Naoko Ishii wants to make the Global Commons everybody’s business - SEforALL Forum

[video:https://vimeo.com/268469440]

CEO of Global Environment Facility (GEF), Naoko Ishii, highlights importance of conserving our global commons.

Watch all Sustainable Energy For All Forum 2018 videos

António Guterres (UN Secretary-General) on World Environment Day 2018

United Nations Secretary-General video message on World Environment Day 2018.

SEforALL Forum 2018 Recap

[video:https://vimeo.com/271002513]

The Forum’s closing day, with over 800 attendees present, did not disappoint. On a wide range of issues – energy access finance, bringing clean energy to refugee camps, clean cooking – government leaders, companies, NGOs, and financiers stepped up with new collaborations and commitments to achieve faster results.

Here is a recap of two intensive but productive days in Lisbon where all different players were committed to sustainable energy for all, leaving no one behind.

“We Can Do This” - Michael Liebreich from the SEforALL Forum in Lisbon

[video:https://vimeo.com/268273302]

The 2018 Sustainable Energy for All Forum took place in Lisbon from the 2nd to 3rd of May 2018 when more than 800 leaders from government, business, civil society & international organizations gathered together in Convento do Beato to commit to achieving SDG7 - sustainable energy for all, leaving no one behind.

Steve Howard sees Sustainable Design as a positive challenge - Leaders4Climate

Steve Howards, CEO of The Climate Groups, talks about the impact of Sustainable Design.

The Leaders4Climate initiative engages influential and well-known figures in speaking out on climate change.

Urgency and Unity central at Fiji-led Climate Conference

The inspiring slogan of the UN Climate Change conference CCOP23 “Uniting for Climate Action – Further Faster Together” still reverberates in my daily thoughts. The World Bank Group partnered with the Fijian Presidency, the German hosts and numerous partners to spread the message of unity, and the urgent need to increase ambition and action.

See our summary video

[video:https://youtu.be/5uPP0RAkytU]

The World Bank Group pavilion featured more than thirty Facebook live interviews under the Uniting4Climate message, see the full recordings here. Climate solutions were discussed by global leaders, media and influencers and the program featured World Bank Group related work on transport, energy, forests and landscapes, gender, cities, education and much more. Lord Nicholas Stern emphasized that climate action is fundamentally about “sustainable growth,” largely achieved through investments in climate-smart infrastructure with the participation of the private sector.

The World Bank Pavilion at COP23. Photo Credits: Kaia Rose/Connect4Climate

On November 6, for the opening of COP23, Minister Inia Seruiratu of Fiji launched the pavilion program conversing with three Pacific Voices in Unison youth climate ambassadors from different Pacific nations. Minister Seruiratu, High-Level Climate Champion for COP23, emphasized that climate change affects all, not only the Pacific Islands, that “we are all in the same boat” with the aim of limiting warming to 1.5C degrees above pre-industrial levels. Key to climate action would be the leadership of young people as exemplified by the Pacific Voices in Unison, who shared their journeys of resilience in light of climate change with personal statements.

Minister Inia Seruiratu at COP23. Photo Credits: Max Thabiso Edkins/Connect4Climate

Youth leadership was celebrated around COP23 under the slogan: Youth Uniting4Climate Action – Further Faster Together. The World Bank’s Connect4Climate program partnered on the Youth Climate Action Awards to highlight that today’s youth are already feeling the impacts of climate change and they are the generation energized to find opportunities in climate action and building a low-carbon resilient future. My message to the youth audience was simple: “As we heard over this conference that the climate is changing rapidly, but that is actually our generation’s biggest opportunity. We are in the midst of a radical ecological and economic transformation that will shape our future and we are a part of the solution.”

Taking on climate change is young generation’s biggest opportunity. Photo Credits: Kaia Rose/Connect4Climate

Climate action is set to be one of our greatest opportunities, with an estimated investment of US$ 90 trillion in new infrastructure needed by 2030, according to the New Climate Economy. Much climate action is already taking place, and solutions were presented and promoted throughout the conference. The Momentum for Change Awards highlighted projects already supporting the achievement of the Paris Agreement, and the Climate Summit for Local and Regional Leaders emphasized action at the local scale.

Momentum For Change Awards Ceremony. Photo Credits: Giulia Camilla Braga

COP23 emphasized the need for climate literacy to help train innovators and technology-developers for the green economy. James Close, Director of Climate Change, World Bank, highlighted: “We need to transform our society and our economy and we all have a role to play. Education gives us the opportunity to touch young minds and frame their thinking and problem-solving by giving them tools, evidence and data to come up with their own conclusions about what to do and how to do it.”

James Close, Director of Climate Change, World Bank. Photo Credits: Max Thabiso Edkins/Connect4Climate

Numerous activities happening in parallel to COP23, such as Hack4Climate, Sustainable Innovation Forum, United for Efficiency and others, helped underline the need to connect, raise ambition, and support the advancement of solutions within everybody’s sphere of influence. This was also made clear to the public at the KlimaTour event hosted by the City of Bonn and at the Climate Planet exhibit promoted under the #Uniting4Climate hashtag.

Minister Inia Seruiratu biked to the COP23 venue within the KlimaTour initiative. Photo Credits: Max Thabiso Edkins/Connect4Climate

Not only did we connect with audiences in Bonn, we also brought the voices and culture of Fiji to COP23 with two Fiji Live to COP23: Uniting for Climate Action broadcasts on the COP23 Facebook page during the high-level days, November 15 and 16. As a historical first the live shows were shown on all screens across the COP venues, including in the Plenary, and were watched more than 100,000 times. Hosted by Fiji’s Youth Climate Ambassador and Miss Pacific Islands, Anne Dunn, and featuring a special address by the Fijian President, George Konrote, the shows underscored the urgent need for the negotiations to support ambitious climate action.

Prime Minister of Fiji, Frank Bainimarama. Photo Credits: Max Thabiso Edkins/Connect4Climate

Having felt the energy and vigor behind the “Uniting for Climate Action – Further Faster Together” slogan I repeat the words of Prime Minister of Fiji, Frank Bainimarama: “We don’t need to fear the future if we have courage to act now.”

[video:https://youtu.be/iunmeGzQCtY]

The world has embarked on an unstoppable movement to building a low-carbon resilient future, supported by all sectors of society, across all parts of the globe. Act now, uniting for climate action to protect our one planet!

Check our COP23 Facebook Live recordings

Lucia Grenna’s Meadow

[video:https://vimeo.com/245313081]

The World Bank Group Engagement & Partnerships Team’s contribution to the 2017 Anacostia Riparian Meadow Restoration project was in memory of Lucia Grenna, founder of the Connect4Climate program.

Welcome to COP23: #Uniting4Climate Further Faster Together

Preparations underway as COP23 opens its doors to the world on Monday Nov 6th to advance the implementation of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. Under the theme of "Uniting for Climate Action - Further Faster Together", delegates, businesses, civil society and regions are gathering in Bonn.