Where to find IIED and partners at COP27: event listing
IIED researchers and partners led and presented at events throughout COP27. Our key focus areas were debt relief for climate and nature, locally led adaptation and finance, more ambitious carbon reduction targets, and supporting negotiators from the LDCs.
COP27 takes place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt in November 2022
IIED researchers and partners led and presented at events throughout the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Our events called for more ambitious targets and actions to reduce carbon emissions, addressing debt relief for climate and nature, championed locally led adaptation to deliver a climate-resilient world, and the need for climate finance to reach those that need it the most. We also supported negotiators from the least developed countries.
During COP27 IIED and partners prioritised the calls for more ambitious targets and actions to reduce carbon emissions, the need for more climate finance to reach Indigenous People and Local Communities to tackle climate change, and for the international community to do more to address developing country debt, nature and climate – tackling these together for a sustainable future.
To see the events involving IIED and partners in week one and two, click on the following links:
Many of IIED’s events at COP27 were held at the Resilience Hub, where we co-led the ‘Finance and investment’ theme.
Sunday 6 November
Delivering climate resilience through social protection
Pavilion event
Time: 4-6pm
Venue: India pavilion
Hosted by: Ministry of Rural Development, government of India
Partners: IIED, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) India and UNDP
Related reading: Social protection to enhance climate resilience: what works where? | How women leaders are getting better social protection for the vulnerable
Monday 7 November
High Level Dialogue. Debt swaps for climate and nature: the time is now
Pavilion event
Venue: Resilience Hub
Hosted by: IIED
Speakers: including Seychelles President Wavel Ramkalawan; The Gambia Vice-President Badara Joof; Belize Minister of Finance Christopher Coye; Maldives Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Technology H.E. Aminath Shauna.
This event was targeted at debtor and creditor governments, private investors interested supporting climate and nature outcomes, international institutions engaged on debt, climate and nature and civil society working with local communities seeking investment in climate resilience, mitigation and natural resource management.
The session facilitated a dialogue between debtor governments and creditors to reach political commitments for more large scale, programmatic debt swaps for climate and nature.
Related reading: After the Paris Agreement, the debt deluge: why lending for climate drives debt distress
Tuesday 8 November
Better cities: a radical agenda for a transformative urban future
Pavilion event
Hosted by: IIED
This session set out a vision for urban transformation to build just and inclusive cities. Through an engagement with domain experts embedded in varied contexts, participants explored four key action areas:
- Embracing disruptive resilience
- Connecting urban climate justice with social justice and decarbonisation
- Promoting housing justice while advancing climate justice, and
- Supporting migration in the context of the climate emergency.
Related reading: Building better cities: responding to the twin challenge of inequality and climate change
What does effective loss and damage finance look like from a resilience perspective?
Pavilion event
Hosted by: Loss and Damage Youth Coalition
Partners: IIED, World Resources Institute (WRI) and InsuResilience
This session complemented and did not duplicate the discussions in the negotiations but aimed to consider a set of issues around how to meet loss and damage needs through effective investment – what does this look like?
The event also provided space for discussions on loss and damage and the spectrum of policies and approaches to address them as well as advocated for greater financial support for addressing loss and damage in vulnerable developing countries.
Related reading: Financing loss and damage: four key challenges
Enhanced Direct Access to climate finance: devolving decisions, devolving power
Pavilion event
Hosted by: IIED
Partners: Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia (EIF), Adaptation Fund, Rwanda Green Fund, Micronesia Conservation Trust, Green Climate Fund
This event brought together entities that have managed the Enhanced Direct Access (EDA) approach, and entities that are still in the process, promoting a peer-to-peer learning process to share lessons, opportunities and difficulties of the EDA approach. EDA is a vital modality for locally led adaptation, prioritising local agency in funding allocations.
Sparking change: film and science together for desirable urban futures
Film screening
Venue: Action Hub
Hosted by: United Nations University (UNU-EHS) as part of Transformative Urban Coalition
We all desire, want and need a better urban future for all. This can only be reached by working together: from artists and youth to scientists, policymakers, private sector and communities. This session showcases the huge power of narratives developed by artists, based on local demands and rooted in science to inspire and trigger urgent climate action.
In this screening, Oscar winner producer Dirk Wilutzky presented a short film from a series to inspire deep transformation towards bolder climate action in cities. The movies were created as part of the Transformative Urban Coalition’s project of UNU-EHS, WRI, IIED and IDOS under the International Climate Initiative. The film presents an interview with global thought leader Christiana Figueres, sharing an overview of the global challenges facing society today, the available solutions, and what concrete actions individuals can take.
Related reading: Transformative Urban Coalitions
Loss and Damage Forum: connecting local to global
Venue: LLA Pavilion
Speakers: Saleemul Huq, ICCCAD
This session marked the launch of Loss and Damage Forum, a collaborative platform and virtual workspace where resources and tools are shared among a group of practitioners, researchers and decision makers across the world, with a prime focus of connecting local to global, to support and address climate change-induced loss and damage. It included stories from transboundary Sundarbans, Africa and the Pacific/Small Islands.
Wednesday 9 November
Closing the gap: partnerships between households, grassroots organisations, intermediaries and providers of finance
Pavilion event
Hosted by: IIED
Partners: WRI and InsuResilience
This dynamic session started off by hearing from representatives from a range of groups including grassroots organisations, intermediaries and providers of finance experience so far with receiving or providing climate finance. This flowed into small breakout discussions with representatives from the various links in the finance chain where tough questions will be discussed.
Related reading: Scaling up support for locally led adaptation
But what does that have to do with me? The role of coalitions to foster long-term climate action in cities
Hub event
Hosted by: Transformative Urban Coalition
Speakers: Including Aditya Bahadur, IIED
How to better raise awareness to multiple urban realities and how to translate them into compelling narratives to enable urban climate action? This is very much needed as one of the biggest obstacles to ambitious urban climate action is that it seems to be a distant threat and that there are supposedly bigger and more urgent problems to solve in cities. That is particularly true for the most vulnerable groups of society whose critical knowledge and capacity gaps often hinder them from making their voices heard in co-developing more just and livable futures for all.
This session contributed to closing these crucial gaps by showcasing an approach to collect climate change perceptions from urban communities, with a focus on most vulnerable dwellers; process this data; and translate it into capacitation strategies and training material.
Related reading: How can local urban priorities connect with responses at global level to the climate crisis?
Transformative Urban Coalition photo exhibition
The Transformative Urban Coalitions photo exhibition launched at the opening of the Capacity building hub, featuring images submitted of people's perceptions of a desirable and sustainable city. The project facilitates the establishment of transformative urban coalitions in five Latin American cities to develop new strategies for addressing local challenges in urban development and inequality, while at the same time reducing carbon emissions.
Related reading: New coalition to transform cities – and lives
Locally led adaptation in the Green Climate Fund
Pavilion event
Hosted by: Namibia Nature Foundation, Germanwatch, Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia, Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism of Namibia, Triple Capital
Speakers: Clare Shakya, IIED
African countries are among the most vulnerable to climate change impacts, with the estimated costs of adaptation based on countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) up to US$280 billion per year. Current climate finance flows for adaptation are in the region of $46 billion per year. Although adaptation finance is increasing, it is well below what is needed to adapt to existing and future climate change impacts.
Furthermore, climate finance rarely reaches the local level, even though local communities disproportionately bear the impacts of climate change. The majority of climate finance flows towards large scale projects via international organisations or central governments, while less than 10% of global climate finance reaches the local level, according to an estimate by IIED. The principles for locally led adaptation, endorsed by more than 80 governments and organisations, offers guidance for moving towards an approach to financing adaptation that puts local communities in the driver’s seat to ensure an effective, impactful and sustainable response to climate change.
Climate funds are yet to integrate the principles of locally led adaptation into their programming approaches. A recent publication by Germanwatch uses the principles to assess how well the Green Climate Fund has done to date in supporting adaptation at the local level across its Africa portfolio.
Thursday 10 November
Operationalising finance for loss and damage: examples from Africa and the Caribbean
Side event
Venue: Memphis room
Hosted by: SEI
Partners: IIED, Overseas Development Institute (ODI), International Youth and Student Movement of the UN (ISMUN), Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PAJCA), Stop Climate Chaos Scotland
This event charted pathways forward for delivering financial support to victims of loss and damage. It discussed research findings on potential sources, modalities and structures for loss and damage finance, with insights on local needs and action from Africa and the Caribbean.
Related reading: Financing loss and damage: four key challenges | Harnessing Nationally Determined Contributions to tackle loss and damage in least developed countries
Converging top down and bottom-up pathways to achieve climate resilience
Pavilion event
Venue: India pavilion
Hosted by: National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) and government of Madhya Pradesh
This session illustrated innovative and scalable solutions that have been effective in building community level resilience from the perspective of policymakers at sub-national level and community level practitioners, covering top-down and bottom-up perspectives.
- Top-down: share sub-national governments’ innovative policies and approaches to promote a whole of a government approach to achieve multi-sectoral coordination for climate action and direct capacity, knowledge/information, expertise to the local level
- Bottom-up: present expert organisation and practitioners’ perspectives and best practices on how they have used local delivery channels, village institutions, women’s collectives to build bottom-up resilience.
Related reading: The power of ‘tech plus people’ in collective climate action
On transformative leadership for climate resilience
Pavilion event
Venue: Resilience Frontiers Pavilion
Hosted by: Climate-KIC and IIED
Climate-KIC and IIED are moving forward with implementing the EU Climate Adaptation mission. This includes supporting the transformative leadership capabilities of current and future leaders at regional and local levels. Our aim is to go beyond traditional climate adaptation training programmes and develop a more holistic approach to support personal transformation of leaders.
The focus is on working with young, elected leaders; young leaders of government executives; and youth leaders of community organisations. The aim is to take this beyond Europe and integrate it with programmes such as the LDC Initiative for Effective Adaptation and Resilience (LIFE-AR) programme.
Friday 11 November
How accountability enables locally led adaptation: driving the quality of climate finance
Pavilion event
Time: 10.30am-12pm
Venue: Resilience Hub
Hosted by: IIED
Partners: WRI and CCRI
Scaling up adaptation finance to the local level will require transformational shifts in terms of the platforms used, reforms to finance architecture and sources of finance. Enhancing feedback on what is working and what is not will ensure these transformations can happen faster and more effectively. This will support the finance recipients and the women and men impacted by projects to shape developmental outcomes.
This session brings together stakeholders involved in climate finance to explore novel approaches to accountability. It will provide an opportunity for finance providers and intermediaries to work towards more inclusive and transparent finance provision and promote locally led adaptation.
Related reading: Good climate finance guide for investing in locally led adaptation | Locally led adaptation principles | Good climate finance guide: lessons for strengthening devolved climate finance | 360 degree methodology backgrounder
Money where it matters: driving climate finance to achieve human and environmental rights
Official side event
Time: 3-4.30pm
Venue: Khufu room
Hosted by: Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International, Agricord, The National Farmers Union (NFU)
Partners: Forest Farm Facility
Food systems are increasingly called upon to enforce human and environmental rights. But what does this mean for farmers’ livelihoods? Accessing funding and innovative financial instruments for adaptation and mitigation are necessary to rapidly scale up food system transformation among small farmers.
Related reading: Local climate resilience finance: how can mirage become reality?
Saturday 12 November
Understanding urban risk
Pavilion event
Venue: IDFC pavilion
Hosted by: Adaptation Research Alliance and IIED
Efforts aimed at enhancing resilience in cities are predicated on accurately understanding and communicating the nature of climate risk, however urban areas pose peculiar challenges for these processes.
In this session, the Adaptation Research Alliance employed a highly interactive format to explore a subset of these proven models understanding urban risk from across the global South.
Related reading: Disruptive resilience: an agenda for the new normal in cities of the global South
Open Space Learning Day: Sustainable Cities – Transformative Urban Coalitions
Hub event
Venue: Capacity-building Hub
Hosted by: UNU-EHS and IIED
Enhancing biodiversity conservation and sustainable agriculture for climate change adaptation in China
Pavilion event
Venue: China Pavilion
Hosted by: Farmers’ Seed Network of China, United Nations Environment Programme-International Ecosystem Management Partnership (UNEP-IEMP), C Team and Foundation for Rural Development
This event featured research institute, social organisation and enterprise participants and illustrated good practices and potential mechanisms to promote smallholder communities and their collaboration and linkages with scientists and other stakeholders for co-innovation; in the field of biodiversity conservation and sustainable agriculture as strategies and nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation.
Related reading: Community-based network: How organising farmers can channel finance for nature and climate to locally-led EbA
Locally led adaptation: creating a step-change in climate finance and resilience building
Ministerial event
Venue: UK Pavilion
Hosted by: IIED, WRI
Partners: Endorsers of the principles for locally led adaptation
More than 80 organisations have endorsed the eight principles for locally led adaptation (LLA) as of September 2022 and more countries and non-state institutions signed on ahead of COP27; the task is now to translate these principles into tangible action and scaling up support for LLA across levels of governance.
This session spotlighted new endorsements of the eight principles from governments, funders, as well as grassroots civil society organisations. Participants heard about new commitments and ongoing initiatives around the globe, to create a step-change in climate finance and policy to support LLA. The event closed with renewing commitments and indicate a forward trajectory to advance the global movement for LLA.
Related reading: Locally led adaptation principles
Putting good quality adaptation finance in the spotlight at COP27
Ministerial event
Venue: Resilience Hub
Hosted by: Champions Group on Adaptation Finance
Partners: IIED, E3G
This event and reception brought together ministers and senior representatives from climate-vulnerable countries and members of the Champions Group on Adaptation Finance in dialogue on what good quality adaptation finance looks like in practice and how these countries are supporting this and driving stronger political ambition and action on adaptation finance for COP27 and beyond.
Related reading: Videos from participating countries marking one year of the champions group
Locally led adaptation reception
Celebration and reception
Venue: Resilience Hub
Hosted by: IIED, WRI
Partners: Endorsers of the principles for locally led adaptation
More than 80 organisations have endorsed the eight principles for locally led adaptation (LLA) as of September 2022 and more countries and non-state institutions signed on ahead of COP; the task is now to translate these principles into tangible action and scaling up support for LLA across levels of governance.
This session spotlighted new endorsements of the eight principles from governments, funders, as well as grassroots civil society organisations. Those present heard about new commitments and ongoing initiatives around the globe, to create a step-change in climate finance and policy to support LLA. The event closed with renewing commitments and indicating a forward trajectory to advance the global movement for LLA.
Related reading: Locally led adaptation principles
Week 2
Tuesday 15 November
Climate and Development Forward Plan: towards transformational change
Side event
Venue: Rwanda Pavilion
Hosted by: Rwanda and UK governments
This High-Level event brought together ministers and senior representatives to discuss a forward plan on the climate and development actions called for at the second Climate and Development Ministerial (at the sidelines of UNGA77). This concluded that a series of transformational shifts are needed to meet climate and development challenges now compounded by multiple global crises.
The independent group of climate experts who supported the ministerial workshops have drafted a forward plan to deliver on the transformational shifts on climate and development resourcing called for - reforming the global financial architecture, towards platform-based financing, and on the scale and composition of finance.
This event discussed this proposed forward plan with invited Ministers from Rwanda, the United Kingdom, Egypt, Senegal, the UAE, Barbados, and Germany. They will offer their reflections, including what roles they can take in delivering on the forward plan.
Related reading: Climate and Development Ministerial Forward Plan: transforming climate and development delivery (PDF)
Capacities for building climate resilience: insights and learning from three global initiatives
Venue: Capacity-building Hub
Hosted by: Adaptation Research Alliance (with IIED), UN Environment Programme, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia
Related reading: Good practices for adaptation action research (PDF)
Stories of climate mobility: understanding the impacts, informing effective response
Pavilion event
Venue: Climate Mobility Pavilion
Hosted by: government of Germany and the Bosch Foundation
Partners: Environment Department in the government of Madhya Pradesh, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in India, IIED and Climate, Migration, and Displacement Platform
Related reading: Climate change, migration and vulnerability to trafficking | Social protection and informal job market reform for tackling climate migration nexus | A helpline that is a lifeline for migrants
Tuesday 15 November
Climate and Development Forward Plan: towards transformational change
Side event
Venue: Rwanda Pavilion
Hosted by: Rwanda and UK governments
This High-Level event brought together ministers and senior representatives to discuss a forward plan on the climate and development actions called for at the second Climate and Development Ministerial (at the sidelines of UNGA77). This concluded that a series of transformational shifts are needed to meet climate and development challenges now compounded by multiple global crises.
The independent group of climate experts who supported the ministerial workshops have drafted a forward plan to deliver on the transformational shifts on climate and development resourcing called for - reforming the global financial architecture, towards platform-based financing, and on the scale and composition of finance.
This event discussed this proposed forward plan with invited Ministers from Rwanda, the United Kingdom, Egypt, Senegal, the UAE, Barbados, and Germany. They offered their reflections, including what roles they can take in delivering on the forward plan.
Related reading: Climate and Development Ministerial Forward Plan: transforming climate and development delivery (PDF)
Capacities for building climate resilience: insights and learning from three global initiatives
Venue: Capacity-building Hub
Hosted by: Adaptation Research Alliance (with IIED), UN Environment Programme, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia
Related reading: Good practices for adaptation action research (PDF)
Stories of climate mobility: understanding the impacts, informing effective response
Pavilion event
Venue: Climate Mobility Pavilion
Hosted by: government of Germany and the Bosch Foundation
Partners: Environment Department in the government of Madhya Pradesh, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in India, IIED and Climate, Migration, and Displacement Platform
Related reading: Climate change, migration and vulnerability to trafficking | Social protection and informal job market reform for tackling climate migration nexus | A helpline that is a lifeline for migrants
Wednesday 16 November
Putting nature at the heart of the principles for locally led adaptation: a celebration of endorsers
Pavilion event
Venue: LLA Pavilion
Hosted by: IIED, Fauna and Flora International (FFI), BirdLife International
This event brought together representatives from Indigenous Peoples and local communities, government, funds and non-government organisations to celebrate new and existing endorsers of the principles for locally led adaptation and highlight their efforts to implement locally led action in nature and conservation initiatives aligned to their commitment to these principles.
The event also highlighted the close connection between climate change and nature and emphasise the importance of solutions that work together to solve both crises through local level action.
Related reading: Only a fraction of international climate adaptation finance for least developed countries found to also support nature
Blending people’s participation and nature-based approaches for enhancing community resilience
Pavilion event
Venue: LLA Hub
Hosted by: ICCCAD with Center for Natural Resources Studies (CNRS)
Community and ecosystem resilience happens where there is mix of locally led adaptation actions as well as nature-based approaches. This panel discussion led by ICCCAD, CNRS and CCJB, with support from CJRF, explored how local communities’ participation is crucial to implement nature-based solutions and strengthen socio-ecological resilience in the climate-disaster prone areas of Bangladesh.
Thursday 17 November
Amplifying voices from urban informal settlements: governance and finance models that advance climate justice and urban resilience
Pavilion event
Venue: Resilience Hub
Hosted by: Slum Dwellers International (SDI)
Partners: IIED, Green Africa Youth Organisation (GAYO), WRI, World Bank, Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA), Cities Alliance, Plan International
To realise a resilient, just future, effective climate interventions must include organised urban poor communities – particularly women and youth – as lead designers, planners, and implementers of climate solutions. Evidence shows that these communities have the skills, capacities and systems to drive and deliver locally led adaptation and channel climate finance directly to communities who need it most.
This session illustrated the power of urban poor communities to produce governance and finance models that advance climate justice from the ground up, highlighting the transformative power of these strategies.
