with the global
An estimated 1,750 worldwide institutional members of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UN SDSN), including universities and research centers, will contribute expertise to a Global Climate Hub established earlier this year.
Phoebe Koundouri, a professor at the Athens University of Economics and Business, reminded delegates of the hub and its importance during a high-level session on systems change and climate change and sustainability , sponsored by the United Nations Climate Change Global Innovation Hub at COP27, which will take place in Egypt until 18 November.
The Global Climate Hub was launched in July 2022 during a pre-COP27 event at the Academy of Athens in Greece.
The host institutions of the Global Climate Hub are the Athens University of Economics and Business and the Athena Research and Innovation Center of Information Communication and Knowledge Technologies, both of the Alliance of Excellence for Research and Innovation on Aephoria (AE4RIA).
Koundouri, who is also the chair of the UN SDSN, said that the Global Climate Hub aims to identify paths for climate neutrality and stability in a systemic context where there are many crises, for example, the collapse of biodiversity, as well as economic and geo – political crises.
It focuses on providing science-driven support to governments and relevant stakeholders around the world, he pointed out in a round table discussion.
“Our goal is to mobilize the implementation of announced promises [the Paris Agreement and Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs] around the world to reach 1.5 degrees [Celsius reduction in global temperatures stipulated under the Paris Agreement] within the given time frame and in support of the Sustainable Development Goal [SDG] targets in a very clear way.”
The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022 collected by the UN SDSN shows the slow progress and low performance of countries around the world in the past two years, especially in the field of climate action. This is set to have major implications for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals projections.
The climate hub will use extensive data, knowledge and technology provided by experts in various fields such as machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to develop country-specific action plans that will be adopted and strengthened by in nine different units stemming from the SDGs.
Nine work units
The Global Climate Hub operates through nine units that include climate data platforms and digital applications, atmospheric physics and climatology, climate and energy modeling, climate, land use, water-food-energy biodiversity nexus modeling, and climate and health.
The units will also include accelerating innovation for climate neutrality and sustainability, just change.
During the presentation, Koundouri mentioned that each unit has a specific mission and role. For example, the goal of climate data platforms and digital applications is to better understand the science, technology and innovation landscape for climate by monitoring relevant research activities in climate around the world.
Through AI-driven infrastructure, the unit will also integrate scholarly communication sources and combine data from the global research ecosystem into indicators that will be fed to the Open Science Observatory.
“There is currently an existing base that gathers and stores research papers, policy papers, raw data, analyzed data and results on the various SDGs which is a solid base for us to build on,” he said.
Contributors from the Inter-governmental Panel for Climate Change will support the atmospheric physics and climatology unit, focusing on understanding climate change and analyzing methods and multiple lines of evidence, focused on enhancing human influence on various climate changes including extreme weather events. .
The acceleration of innovation for climate neutrality and stability unit will work together with the UN Global Innovation Hub and Uni-Fund, which has a membership of Greek universities, research and development as well as technology startups.
Climate finance is needed
During the round-table discussion, the panellists exchanged views on the importance of innovation for climate neutrality change and how different systems influence research and innovation more broad scale.
The panellists agreed that innovation is important but must be supported by new policies, business and financial models.
Rachel Kyte, the dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in the United States, stated that, despite the damning scientific reports on climate change, the annual report from the World Systems Change Lab Resources Institute shows that there are changes in the main areas such as technological innovation sectors.
He added that the policy environment and financial systems must be adapted to provide room for growth, which can feed into the technological transition driven by climate neutrality.
“In [the] Fletcher school, we do a lot of research on innovation and climate, we also have a climate policy lab and we have countries and private companies coming in for help. Institutions must understand which policy instruments to use and how to accelerate the pace of technology adoption to achieve exponential growth.
“We need exponential growth in key areas – for example, renewable energy in every market around the world at the same time. We see that innovation is happening, taking off and having an impact.
“We need a fast pace of adoption everywhere, the knowledge of the policy and a lot of support. However, the financial system is actually dragging us back at the moment and we are not pushing forward,” he said.
Koundouri added that, while many financial institutions are moving towards climate action and green projects, the challenge is to translate this support into reality that helps climate action.
During COP26, 450 financial institutions from 45 countries pledged US$130 billion to support climate action.
“To avoid greenwashing, we need to find ways to develop financial tools, instruments and frameworks that can really support a clean sustainable transition, and it’s not just about financing technology,” said Koundouri.
Green jobs and skills
Dr Eesa Mohammed Bastaki, the president of the University of Dubai and Chairman of the World Green Economy Organization (WGEO) Academia and Youth platform mentioned that, while there are some challenges in the transition to clean energy, many financial institution began to prepare. [their actions] towards climate action and sustainable development methods by investing in climate-proof projects.
Capacity building and strong leadership are critical to fast-tracking financial solutions and institutional leaders need to understand the consequences of climate change and how to address the problems systematically. .
In addition, he introduced the World Green Economy Report, recently published on the WGEO Academia and Youth platform, which highlights the importance of more green jobs and the urgent need for upskilling, re-skilling and social inclusion in transition to sustainable economies.
“The financial landscape is starting to change to accommodate the goals of the Paris Agreement but the pace of change is not enough. The assessment and transfer of climate-friendly investments must be more orderly and informed by data. There is a need to build the capacities of investors to have the standards, tools and policy-understanding to build climate-friendly portfolios,” he said.
“Investment in the green transition must be matched with skills adjustments and ensure that no one is left behind. A fair transition still requires more analysis and solutions to be effectively implemented in different sectors of the economy, ” he added.
