D&C Days 2024: Key messages

Four themes 

D&C Days 2024 focused on four themes that need to be addressed to speed progress on climate change:

• Decolonising climate finance
• Accountability for the Paris goals
• Game-changing adaptation ideas, and
• Out-of-the-box solutions

Here are the key messages from each theme:

Decolonising climate finance

There is an urgent need to accelerate the collective slow pace of the financial initiatives and institutions required to invest in addressing climate challenges. This need to decolonise climate finance was at the heart of discussions under this theme. 

Participants delved into the reality of historic power imbalances and injustices rooted in colonial legacies. These concentrate voices, resources and power in the global North, meaning that those who need climate finance the most – particularly the most vulnerable nations – face significant barriers to access.

The key messages from this theme were:

Decolonising climate finance requires grounding the discussion in justice considerations. Justice and ‘decolonisation’ mean different things to different people and countries, but climate finance must account for fairness – including current capacities to act and the disproportionate impacts faced by vulnerable communities. It involves having difficult conversations that challenge power imbalances in which wealthy nations dominate decision-making, while marginalised communities bear the brunt of the impacts of climate change but lack adequate financial support to address it.

Practical approaches to addressing finance mechanisms must prioritise direct access for Indigenous Peoples and local communities, reducing bureaucratic layers that often hinder their involvement. Existing funding mechanisms are fragmented, overly restrictive and narrowly focused, further compounding the challenges for those worst affected by climate impacts.

Partnerships are essential for transformative change, as shifting power dynamics cannot be achieved through blame, but rather through collaboration and mutual understanding. To build meaningful partnerships we may need to challenge existing relationships and get out of our comfort zone, thinking about partners that can help connect efforts to make a real impact. This is not about getting a joint proposal together for funding: it is about creating linkages, understanding roles and responsibilities, and building a system to work together.

Climate finance must flow to fragile and conflict-affected states, where the compounding risks of climate change and fragility are most acute. Addressing the root causes of conflict in these regions is essential, and requires investments that rebuild civic institutions, restore nature and foster resilience. By targeting both environmental and institutional restoration, climate finance can strengthen the capability of institutions to tackle climate change, ensuring that no community is left behind in the fight against climate change.

We must take action to rebuild climate finance mechanisms to support bottom-up knowledge sharing and an egalitarian approach where everyone’s voices are heard. This means listening to each other, even if we don’t agree with everyone around the table, and in particular making sure we listen to voices that often go unheard.

While this is a call for action, this is not only about success. We must not be afraid to report failures and challenges and to grow, learn and adapt from them. This is how we will learn and move forward together.

Accountability for the Paris goals

As we build momentum towards COP30, 2025 will mark the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, providing a critical opportunity to reflect on the level of ambition and action needed to limit global warming. 

Discussions on this theme focused on accountability for the goals set in Paris, at COP15. We examined how the range of actors across sectors – such as finance, agrifood, nature and water, human settlements and energy – and the economic disparities rooted in colonial histories, can be held accountable in taking steps to address climate impacts and reduce the risk and vulnerability facing those on the frontline of the climate crisis.

The key messages from this theme are: 

Financial institutions designed to provide finance to those threatened and/or impacted by climate change must behave consistently and predictably. As it stands, the behaviour of these institutions is inconsistent and unpredictable, putting global South actors at a disadvantage. This unreliability fuels a cycle of mistrust in the systems, eroding confidence and perpetuating the very inequalities they are supposed to address. A reshaping of these institutions is urgent to meet marginalised groups’ needs, particularly women and youth.

Accountability requires a reshaping of climate finance institutions to be people-centric, adaptive and consistent. Only then can they meet people’s needs, including the needs of women and the need to foster youth empowerment. Inclusion is key for accountability and for ensuring those under-served groups, such as youth, have a central voice in decision-making processes. 

Transparency needs more than just openness: it requires thoughtful, nuanced communication that provides information in a way that reaches countries and people – regardless of culture, education and other social factors. To level the playing field between global North and South actors, information must be shared in ways that bridge gaps in context, access and understanding, ensuring everyone can engage equitably and effectively. To ensure inclusivity, transparency efforts must integrate risks and vulnerabilities faced by local communities and consider local knowledge in data collection and decision-making processes. Accountability frameworks must prioritise Indigenous Peoples’ inclusion, by integrating their knowledge systems and respecting their unique function on adaptation and resilience.

When it comes to measurement, the focus should shift towards easing the burden on communities and reducing the pressure of reporting. Consequently, there needs to be a move away from rigid, top-down approaches and systems, and towards co-designed, user-friendly approaches. Measuring must be simple: complex high-level indicators often miss the mark, failing to reflect local communities’ realities or priorities. Instead, measurement should empower, not pressure, and should foster approaches that truly resonate with local communities. Metrics should also reflect whether communities were effectively consulted and included in decision-making processes. Employing self-reporting mechanisms, and digital technologies, can provide direct insights into results achieved by local actors, and at reduced cost.

Adaptation, by its very nature, is very difficult to measure: flexible metrics are the answer. Adaptation isn’t a fixed process with a singular endpoint: rather, it should be viewed as a continuous spectrum that is ever evolving. But how do we effectively measure an ongoing process? To capture this, we require flexible metrics that track progress on climate risk and impact management over time and remain responsive to evolving needs and contexts. Flexible metrics should also capture the quality of change communities experience, particularly in terms of empowerment, inclusion and meaningful participation.

Game-changing adaptation ideas

This theme explored innovative approaches to reducing climate vulnerability, risk and impact. There was a particular focus on building resilience through transformational ideas, with discussions on initiatives that deliver impact at scale, catalyse broader change beyond their immediate areas of implementation, and encourage an inclusive and collaborative approach across sectors. 

Central to this exploration was the identification of levers to unlock innovation, enabling the development of 'big ideas' and 'game-changing' solutions for transformation across all climate actors, levels and sectors. 

More specifically, the key messages from this theme are: 

Grounded, perceptions-based data must be balanced with more aggregated/modelled ‘scientific’ data to shape effective adaptation actions, an emerging body of experience shows. Yet, policy often still tends to favour so-called ‘objective’ data, overlooking the rich, context-driven narratives that local perspectives bring to the table and that are crucial for truly impactful adaptation strategies.

Adaptation and resilience don’t require a one-size-fits-all approach to measurement. Instead, we should focus on: first, making measurements people-centred, ensuring they reflect real experiences and needs; second, capturing the broader system perspective to understand interconnected impacts; and third, streamlining donor monitoring and evaluation frameworks to avoid unnecessary complexity and wasted resources. By aligning these elements, we can create metrics that are both meaningful and practical.

Climate communication needs to resonate with people’s lived experiences, capturing the day-to-day realities of how climate change is affecting communities. At the same time, it should make meaningful connections between the local experiences and broader global processes, impacts and actions. This approach empowers communities to see their role in both the problem and the solution, creating a more engaged and informed public.

"It all comes down to community". We must strengthen capacity so that communities can truly participate in selecting, implementing and monitoring the investments needed for adaptation. Community involvement, transparency and the use of local knowledge (for example in the development of climate action plans) are all critical for moving from 'business-as-usual' to 'business unusual' in climate finance, and for enabling locally led adaptation.

⁠⁠Mainstreaming climate finance is a game-changer in terms of transforming climate finance and adaptation. By leveraging existing structures, it streamlines access to funding and eliminates the financial burden associated with relying on intermediaries. This approach makes climate finance more direct, efficient and accessible, accelerating adaptation actions where they’re most needed.

Intersectionality makes common sense. Systemically tackling harmful power structures leads to the delivery of more effective, equitable adaptation strategies. By considering intersectional approaches we can deliver better outcomes and maximise the value of every investment, ensuring that adaptation efforts are both just and impactful.

This isn’t easy: but it is crucial. Intersectional approaches increase complexity, requiring a deeper focus on systems and processes, and there is opposition to sharing power that must be overcome. To avoid compartmentalising or creating tokenism it is necessary to focus on a cohesive set of frameworks and practices that actively move intersectionality forward, ensuring that it’s meaningfully integrated into every aspect of decision-making and action.

Out-of-the-box solutions

The out-of-the-box sessions explored a variety of topics in unusual ways, including through an improvised cardboard theatre workshop, a storytelling workshop and a grand finance debate. These formats tackled some of the key D&C Days thematic issues in unusual ways. The aim was to spark new thinking about communicating, forge new connections and rekindle energy for the second week of COP29. 

The following key messages emerged:

We must take courage and explore new perspectives, as addressing the climate crisis can be challenging and overwhelming, leading to despair in the face of complex technical strands of discussion and negotiations. Humour can help us to put the key issues in sharp focus, laugh about ourselves and take courage to find new ways of addressing challenges with less typical approaches.

Understanding diverse perspectives will help to formulate complex systems for addressing climate challenges. This requires us to bring together and understand a variety of knowledge sources, including the lived experiences of the most affected groups. In this endeavour, we need to carefully design inclusive processes that allow for the full participation of diverse stakeholders to explore systems and to decide on joint action.   

Design processes for people, not agendas. Developing creative processes that allow us to reconnect our thoughts with our feelings will allow us to have more effective discussions, deeper exploration and, ultimately, better action. Carefully designed processes will encourage participants to take a small risk, engage and contribute, and bring a more collaborative spirit to the discussion around the urgent issues facing humankind.  

Exploring different formats for tackling complex challenges can provide a space for sharper conversations that will allow us to engage more deeply in unpacking complex issues. Innovative ways of engagement that are integral parts of longer technical processes can help discussions become unstuck and can also promote a more collaborative approach.  

Imagining different versions of the future is urgent as we discuss the critical strategies to address the climate crisis. These visions can offer hope and provide a compass for action, while helping us to reach larger, more diverse audiences.

Cartoon gallery

Organising partners

The 2024 event was organised in partnership by the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre (RCCC), the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the Climate Justice Resilience Fund (CJRF), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Bank.

Contributing partners

Contributing partners to this year’s event were ACT Alliance, the Adaptation Research Alliance (ARA), 'Generating Ambition for Locally Led Adaptation' core partners, with funding from the government of the Netherlands and the Least Developed Countries Initiative for Adaptation and Resilience (LIFE-AR).