The Climate Action Accelerator’s participation in COP28 UAE

  • Health
  • Aid
  • COP28

We participated in COP for the first time, in a special year not to be missed. Check out our highlights!

Our takeaways

After long and uncertain negotiations, states finally reached an agreement this morning at #COP28 to “transition away from fossil fuel” and towards renewables and energy efficiency. While this represents a landmark deal, it needs to be translated into practice.

In our first year at COP, we’ve paid particular attention to the first “Relief, Recovery and Peace” declaration, the “Health” declaration and Guiding Principles for channelling finance to the health and climate nexus, and the adoption and pledges for the Loss and Damage Fund (L&D). Commitments now need to be operationalised, which requires technical expertise, capacity building, mobilisation, and resources.

At COP28, we aimed to bring the voice of concrete solutions, capitalising on the pilot projects we’ve developed over the past three years with our partners from the humanitarian and health sectors.

Here’s our take:

  • Humanitarian organisations need to go through a deep transformation to respond to adaptation, anticipatory action, and resilience challenges. This includes transitioning to low carbon, resilient operating models, adopting ambitious emissions reduction targets, and implementing effective decarbonisation plans.
  • Climate resilience in health care facilities is vital. Innovative projects developing sustainable, resilient, adaptive, and equitable approaches to health care interventions urgently need to be developed, documented, and exponentially scaled-up.

We’re proud of our partners who’ve been piloting integrated approaches at reducing their climate and environmental impact while creating resilient modus operandi. They have committed to be champions of change within their networks, sharing knowledge, lessons learnt and tools with our cross-sectoral community.

 

Joint event with the Global Logistics Cluster-led WREC project

Being strategic about the climate transformation of our supply chains: collective action across the humanitarian sector and beyond

Humanitarian Hub programme

📆 When: December 1st, 10:00 to 11:30, UTC+4 (local time in Dubai)
📍 Where: Women’s Pavilion, Green Zone, Expo City Dubai

The Global Logistics Cluster-led WREC project (environmental sustainability in humanitarian logistics) and the Climate Action Accelerator convened a panel discussion on ways to develop a more strategic, collective approach to effective emissions reduction from humanitarian supply chains.

As supply chain represents consistently between 40 and 60% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of humanitarian actors, reducing emissions from supply chains is a major lever for emissions reduction. It is however complex and requires using a mix of solutions, from adjusting technical specifications, improving work processes (demand planning, stock management, etc.), to reorienting demands towards affordable, sustainable and low carbon alternative products, especially for key items.

The event was divided into two parts:

  • A 45-minute panel discussion exploring best practices in strategic supplier engagement.
  • A 35-minute world café in which two groups rotated and explored two topics:
    • Suppliers’ engagement in food aid and agriculture.
    • Engaging the pharmaceutical industry for greener medical products.

Speakers include:

  • Louise Rehbinder, Director, Exponential Roadmap Initiative (ERI)
  • Simon Missiri, Director Global Humanitarian Services and Supply Chain Management / International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Special Representative
  • Aldo Spaini, Head of Supply Chain sustainability, World Food Programme (WFP)
  • Maria Guevara, International Medical Secretary, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
  • James Connelly, CEO, My Green Lab

This event was facilitated by

  • Beatrice Godefroy, Public Policy Engagement Director, Climate Action Accelerator
  • Francesca Insabato, Environment Sustainability advisor, World Food Programme (WFP), Global Logistics Cluster WREC Project.

Acknowledgements

This event was organised thanks to the support of the German Federal Foreign Office (GFFO).

Other events we spoke at

Low carbon & climate-resilient health care – global perspectives on solutions & practices

Building climate change resilience in health care facilities in fragile settings

📆 When: December 5th, 13:15 to 14:45, UTC+4 (local time in Dubai)
📍 Where: SE Room 4 (123 pax), Blue Zone, Expo City Dubai

Explore the programme

Health systems in LMICs are highly vulnerable to climate change and have low readiness. The Climate Action Accelerator developed a novel approach to collaboratively assess the vulnerability and capacity of individual health facilities in low-resource settings. The approach involves identifying key climate hazards, assessing vulnerabilities and capacities and co-developing a matrix of solutions to generate a feasible change management plan to build resilience. It is being piloted in a hospital in Chad and will be implemented in Primary Health Care in South Africa next.

Our colleague Trish Schwerdtle, from our Health Programme team, participated in this event. She is a senior researcher at the Heidelberg Institute of Global Health (HIGH) and a consultant with the Climate Action Accelerator. She researches climate change-related migration and health, climate change and humanitarian assistance and climate-resilient health systems with a focus on LMICs. Trish partners with NGOs on action-orientated research.

Other speakers include:

  • Dr. Albrecht (GACCH)
  • Prof. Autenrieth (UKHD)
  • Dr. Depoux (UPC)
  • Prof. Faiz (MNU)
  • Dr. Halpern (Science Po)
  • Dr. Herrmann (UKHD)
  • Dr. Jungmann (HCE)
  • Dr. Marrauld (EHESP)
  • Prof. Sauerborn (UKHD)
  • Dr. Senn (UNISANTE)

 


Reshaping Health Resilience – Confronting Climate Change, Mitigating Economic Impacts, and Forging International Alliances Through Innovation, Technology and Research

Health / Relief, Recovery and Peace

📆 When: December 3rd, 11:00 to 11:35, UTC+4 (local time in Dubai)

📍 Where: Technology and Innovation Hub, Green Zone, Expo City Dubai

In a rapidly evolving world, the complex interplay between climate change, global health resilience, economic stability, and the frontiers of innovation and research has never been more evident. The narrative this session embarks upon today, “Reshaping Health Resilience: Confronting Climate Change, Mitigating Economic Impact, and Forging International Alliances through Innovation and Research”, paints a vivid portrait of the quest to navigate these dynamic challenges.

Our colleague Trish Schwerdtle, from our Health Programme team, also spoke at this event.

Other speakers include:

  • Prof. Stewart Cole, President of the Institute Pasteur: Victor Born Diseases
  • H.E Dr. Farida Al Hosani: Public Health Adaptation Strategy based on Assessment of EBoD
  • Dr Fahed Al Marzooqi: Chief Operating Officer at G42Healthcare: Healthcare sector Sustainability – government / private sectors partnership