Experts from the Lab network will host and present at several events at COP25 that cover the Lab and innovative instruments to drive sustainable finance, as well as the global landscape of climate finance, climate alignment in the financial sector, approaches to closing the investment gap for urban subnational climate projects and infrastructure, and other topics.

Wednesday, December 4; 12:00 – 13:00
NDC Partnership Pavilion 

CPI’s Associate Director, Dr. Angela Falconer, will speak at this event, hosted by the NDC Partnership.

Learn more. 

Wednesday, December 4; 15:00 – 16:30
Room 5, IFEMA Madrid 

CPI’s Associate Director, Dr. Angela Falconer will speak at this event, hosted by Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), that will present and discuss 11 best bet science-based solutions to transform food systems under climate change, and launch a new global initiative to scale these solutions to around 200 million small-scale farmers.

MDBs-IDFC Climate Resilience Metrics Side-Event

Thursday, December 5, 16:00-17:00
MDB Pavilion

The jointly developed Climate Resilience paper is presented by one of the MDBs specialists. CPI’s Executive Director, Dr. Barbara Buchner, is monitoring the panel discussion after which will consist of MDB and IDFC members who will be sharing some experiences and lessons learned about developing climate resilience metrics and how this work is complemented by additional efforts on implementing climate resilience opportunities in each institution.

Speakers include:

• Arghya Sinha Roy-ADB
• Josef Haider- IDFC- KfW
• Claire Healy- E3G
• Olatunji Yusuf – IsDB
• Timo Leiter- London School of Economics
• Monica Scatasta -EIB

Co-organized by Climate Policy Initiative, the European Forest Institute, and UNDP.

Friday, December 6; 8:30 – 12:45
Hotel Pullman Madrid Airport & Feria Metro

Monitoring past, present, and future public and private spending and investment patterns is essential to achieving climate mitigation and adaptation objectives. Such information helps measure progress, identify gaps, align flows and instruments for maximum impact and scale, and optimize the deployment of public resources in a way that can effectively and efficiently unlock private investment at the transformational scales needed.

In this workshop, participants will:

• Share knowledge and best practices on mapping and tracking flows of domestic climate finance
• Identify ways to ensure domestic finance mapping can support planning of effective spending and investment to achieve climate goals
• Network with a growing community of domestic climate finance practitioners from national governments, donors, UN agencies, and implementing organization

Speakers will include:

• Dr. Barbara Buchner, Executive Director, Climate Policy Initiative
• Dr. Angela Falconer, Associate Director, Climate Policy Initiative
• Adeline Dontenville, EU REDD Facility, European Forest Institute
• Chavi Meattle, Analyst, Climate Policy Initiative
• Valérie Merckx, Head, EU REDD Facility, European Forest Institute
• Tim Clairs, Head, Forest and Climate team, UNDP (tbc)
• Jean-Claude Koya, Côte d’Ivoire Ministry of Planning and Investment (tbc)
• Félicien Mulenda, FONAREDD DRC
• Ian Cochran, 14CE, French Landscape of Climate Finance
• Aleksandra Novikova, IKEM, Landscapes of Climate Finance in Czech Republic, Latvia and
• Gianluca Merlo, UNDP NDC Support program

Co-organized by Climate Policy Initiative, the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance, and IDFC member organizations.

Saturday, December 7; 11:00 – 13:00
IDFC Pavilion, Hall 8

With an urgent need to scale both public and private capital for climate solutions, blended finance is often seen as a panacea. The opportunity is certainly there. CPI’s work estimates that eight high-potential countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South and East Asia alone offer more than USD 360bn in blended finance investment potential in clean energy by 2030. There are also excellent examples of blended finance solutions making impact on the ground already. The Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance, which is made-up of development finance institutions (including IDFC member organizations) as well as governments and private investors, has launched 41 blended finance solutions and sustainable business models that have mobilized nearly USD 2 billion for climate mitigation and adaptation.

However, given that blended finance is still often seen as being on the innovative edge of financing, the questions now are around scale and speed. Can public capital leverage the economic transformation needed?

This COP side event, co-organized by Climate Policy Initiative, the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance, and IDFC member organizations, will bring together leaders in blended finance from the public and private sector to share lessons learned. Participants should expect to come away from the session with an enhanced understanding of blended finance tools and challenges, and the opportunity to network with leading initiatives to build partnerships.

This event will include a Lab instrument showcase, in which Lab proponents will give an overview of innovative financial instruments they are rolling out to drive critical investment to action on climate change using blended finance solutions, followed by a high-level panel discussion that will react to the instrument presentations, and expand on the utility of blended finance solutions.

Speakers will include:

• Dr. Barbara Buchner, Executive Director, Climate Policy Initiative
• Abyd Karmali, Managing Director, Climate Finance at Bank of America Merrill Lynch
• Emily Pidgeon, Senior Director, Conservation International
• Karsten Sach, Deputy Director-General for European and international Policy in the Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety in Germany
• Kevin Wervenbov, Three Wheels United (TWU)

Saturday December 7, 11:30-12:30
Spanish Pavilion

CPI’s Associate Director, Bella Tonkonogy, will join the panel for this event coordinated by Climate Strategy & Partners and the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition (MITECO). The session takes place in the Global Action Agenda and Energy and Mobility Day and will address the role of energy efficiency investments in accelerating climate action and delivery of GHG emissions reductions to the Paris Agreement.

Saturday December 7, 14:00-15:30
IDFC Pavilion

CPI’s Associate Director, Bella Tonkonogy, will be speaking at this side-event, organized by IDFC, in partnership with I4CE, CPI and ECF aims to present and discuss key outcomes of the research project linking it with emerging approaches and practices of IDFC members to implement the recommendations made and align with the Paris Agreement. Mandated by the International Development Finance Club (IDFC) and the European Climate Foundation (ECF), Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) and the Institute for Climate Economics (I4CE) have conducted a research project in two parts, resulting in a Discussion Paper (Part 1) and a Final Report (Part 2) on “Aligning with the Paris Agreement”.

Co-organized by the International Development Finance Club, the Institute for Climate Economics, Climate Policy Initiative, and the European Climate Foundation.

Saturday, December 7; 14:00 – 15:30
IDFC Pavilion

Mandated by the International Development Finance Club (IDFC) and the European Climate Foundation (ECF), CPI,  and the Institute for Climate Economics (I4CE) have conducted a research project in two parts, resulting in a Discussion Paper (Part 1) and a Final Report (Part 2) on “Aligning with the Paris Agreement.”  This side-event organized by IDFC, in partnership with I4CE, CPI, and ECF aims to present and discuss key outcomes of the research project linking it with emerging approaches and practices of IDFC members to implement the recommendations made and align with the Paris Agreement.

During the event, CPI Associate Director Bella Tonkonogy will present findings from the report, Implementing Alignment: Recommendations for the International Development Finance Club.

Saturday, December 7; 16:00-17:00
UK Pavilion, Hall 8 

CPI’s Dr. Barbara Buchner will participate in a panel discussion on “Transformative Climate Action in practice,” at the UK pavilion during COP25. The session will be moderated by Vera Scholz, and include:

• Jorge Muñoz Wells, Mayor of Lima, Peru (tbc)
• Mario Silva, Director General, Instituto Metropolitano de Planeación del Área Metropolitana de Guadalajara (IMEPLAN), Mexico
• Adriana Lobo, Executive Director, WRI Mexico (tbc)

Zero-carbon, resilient cities offer a powerful lever to secure shared economic prosperity and boost living standards while tackling the climate crisis. Drawing on new evidence from the Coalition for Urban Transitions’ Climate Emergency, Urban Opportunity Report, and best practices from the C40 Cities Finance Facility and C40 Climate Action Planning Programme, this event will demonstrate why seizing the urban opportunity is critical to our future prosperity, and how cities are driving transformative climate action around the world.

The event will start with a keynote address that explores the vital importance of urban climate action and the immense social and economic benefits of creating compact, connected and clean cities, highlighting what national governments, cities and other actors can gain from seizing the urban opportunity. This will be followed by a panel discussion with perspectives from mayors and other actors who are leading transformative climate action in cities. The discussion will illustrate how developing and implementing climate action plans and financing sustainable urban infrastructure can drive progress. It will also explore the critical roles of different actors working together to overcome barriers to scaling climate action.

Saturday December 5, 17:30-19:00 
EU Pavilion

CPI’s Executive Director, Dr. Barbara Buchner, will join a panel organized by EUI Florence, World Bank and CPLC to discuss Jos Delbeke’s book announcement on EU Policy called ‘Towards a Climate-Neutral Europe. Curbing the Trend’. It reviews EU climate policy over the last 2 decades, and summaries the state of climate legislation until April 2019. The panel will share relevant EU policy experiences for climate action in non-EU/US G20 countries.

Sunday, December 8; 13:30 – 14:30 
Madrid Marriott Auditorium Hotel & Conference Centre, Session Hall “Bristol”

CPI, on behalf of the Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance, will host a session at the World Climate Summit, “Climate Finance for Cities: Moving from project ideas to finance-ready low carbon infrastructure investments.” The session will explore how to facilitate investment through targeted action, learning, cooperation, partnership and analysis that will, in turn, aid in the development of well-structured, bankable projects to empower cities that often struggle to access climate finance.

CPI’s Dr. Barbara Buchner will also participate in a panel discussion, “Mobilizing Investments & Innovation in Low-Carbon Infrastructure.”

Launched in 2010, World Climate Summit is a forum for business- and investment-driven solutions to climate change. It acknowledges the essential importance of collaboration and the “bottom-up” perspective in solving climate change. The Summit is a key platform for driving policies, projects, and public-private partnerships.

For more information, visit the World Climate Summit.

Monday, December 9, 10:00 -11:30
MDB pavilion

CPI’s Dr. Barbara Buchner will be a panelist in this session, in which the EBRD and GCF will present their experience of going beyond the talk to delivering climate finance on the ground.

This will draw on the Bank’s experience with linking strategic climate planning with a range of investment instruments to scale up climate finance in cities. The session will explore the challenges and opportunities with delivering climate finance on the ground in cities, and present business models that have proven adaptable to the demands and challenges unique to each city.

The objective of the session is to share knowledge and provide practical insights into the link between strategic investment planning and climate finance, providing in depth examples of how business models are executed on the ground.

Co-organized by Climate Policy Initiative, the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance, Climate-KIC, and South Pole. 

Monday, December 9; 14:30 – 16:00
EU Pavilion

This COP side event will provide participants with an understanding of the role that innovative finance models can play in supporting the low-carbon and resilient urban transition. It will draw on examples from the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance (the Lab) and the EIT Climate-KIC City Finance Lab.

Speakers will include:

• Abyd Karmali, Managing Director, Climate Finance at Bank of America Merrill Lynch
• Alzbeta Klein, Director for Climate Business, International Finance Corporation – Breathe Better Bond
• Daniel Magallon, CEO at Basel Agency for Sustainable Energy, Cooling as a Service
• Bella Tonkonogy, CPI Associate Director

Monday December 9, 15:00 to 17:00
Pavilion of the Americas

CPI’s Executive Director, Dr. Barbara Buchner, will be a moderator for the panel the joint OECD–IDB COP25 side event.

Building upon work from the OECD and the IDB, this event aims to be forward thinking in highlighting priority actions for realising the full potential in NDBs for transformative climate action. It will showcase existing examples of how NDBs have supported governments in delivering Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) through the promotion of sustainable financial instruments that mobilise, shift and align resources with low-emissions, climate-resilient pathways.

Jorge Moreira da Silva (Director, Development Co-operation Directorate, OECD) will deliver introductory remarks, and Antonio Ketterer (Division Chief, Connectivity, Markets and Finance Division, IDB) will follow with a presentation.

Monday,  December 9; 18:30 – 19:30
GCF/GEF Pavilion

CPI’s Executive Director, Dr. Barbara Buchner, will moderate this session, jointly hosted by the GCF and GEF.

Speakers will include:

• Yannick Glemarec: Executive Director, GCF
• Naoko Ishii: CEO, GEF
• Andrew Johnstone: CEO of Climate Investor One, an $800 million+ blended finance fund
• Hans Peter Lankes: Vice President of Economics and Private Sector Development IFC
• Ed Wells: Head of Group Policy, Sustainable Finance and Investment, HSBC
• Jay Koh: CEO, The Lightsmith Group

Tuesday, December 10- Wednesday December 11
Novotel Madrid Campo de las Naciones; Green Zone 

CPI’s Dr. Barbara Buchner will moderate a panel discussion, “Frameworks to Accelerate Capital Flows for a Sustainable Future” at the 10th Sustainable Innovation Forum 2019 convened alongside the UNFCCC’s COP 25 on December 10th, from 14:25 – 15:15.

CPI’s Federico Mazza will also facilitate a roundtable “Nature-based investment solutions, ” on December 11th from 15:50-16:50.

The Forum has a reputation as one of the largest business focused event at COP, facilitating direct engagement between private and public sector leaders. As an official affiliate event of COP 25, this years’ Forum will convene 600 high level delegates, including environment and energy ministers, city leaders, heads of UN agencies, CEO’s and heads of sustainability from global businesses and CEO’s and founders of clean tech start-ups.

The Forum’s agenda will address the following topics: Sustainable Mobility, Energy Transition, the Circular Economy, Natural Capital, Climate Finance, Sustainable Cities, Heavy Transport, Emerging Climate-Tech, Climate-Smart Agriculture and the Oceans Economy.

It will be located in the Green Zone, so is accessible to those who do not hold an official observer or party badge for COP.

For more information, visit the Sustainable Innovation Forum 2019.

Tuesday, December 10, 16:30 to 18:00

CPI will participate in a roundtable discussion taking place during COP25 that SEforALL is co-organizing with IRENA, with the support of the UNFCCC. The topic is on SDG7 and the linkages with climate.

Participants include:

• Antonio Mexia, CEO of EDP (and Chair of SEforALL Administrative Board)
• Dan Jørgensen, Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities, Denmark, co-lead of Energy Transition track
• Liu Zhenmin, Under-Secretary-General, UN DESA
• H.E Professor Fekadu Beyene, Commissioner, Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Commission of Ethiopia
• Dr. Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya, Minister of Environment, Rwanda
• Tulsi Tanti, Suzlon Group, Founder, Chairman and Managing Director
• Claudio Seebach, Generator Association of Chile, Executive President
• Ignacio Sanchez Gala , Iberdrola, Chief Executive Officer
• Ms. Sharan Burrow, International Trade Union Confederation, General Secretary
• Gilles Vermot Desroches, Vice President Sustainability, Schneider Electric
• Marie Trogstam, Head of Sustainability, ÅF Pöyry
• Francesco La Camera, Director General of IRENA
• Fatih Birol, Director General of IEA

Tuesday, December 10; 18:30 – 20:00
Location: Room 1

Coastal blue carbon ecosystems like mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrass meadows present considerable potential for carbon storage and resilience. Some countries are already taking action to better manage these ecosystems including through improved policies and tools. This event, hosted by Conservation International, will highlight practical actions underway and launch new guidelines for countries considering including these ecosystems in their NDCs and greenhouse gas inventories.

Tuesday December 10, 18:30- 20:30
Madrid Marriott Auditorium Hotel Bar Lounge, Mezzanine Level

CPI’s Dr. Barbara Buchner will be a panelist at the Inter-American Development Bank’s event that will focus on the current state of adaptation finance and recent developments around the world in private sector investment in climate resilience and adaptation. The session will feature experts in climate finance from different regions and institutions, and it will explore the role of public and private institutions in accelerating adaptation finance.

Moderator: Amal-Lee Amin, IDB

Speakers include:

• Barbara Buchner, Climate Policy Initiative
• Jay Koh, Lightsmith Group/GARI
• Gianleo Frisari, IDB
• Carlos Sanchez, Willis Towers Watson
• Martin Berg, European Investment Bank
• Barbara Schnell, KfW
• Serena Shi, Lightsmith Group

Wednesday December 11, 9:15 – 10:15
Paseo de la Castellana, nº 257 1st Floor

This event organized by the Spanish Energy Club will be divided in three different sessions. The first will consist in a debate on the role of society and gender in the energy transition. The second will analyze the key points in this process from a business and financial perspective.  And in the third session, relevant actors of the energy sector from Latin America, Spain and International organizations will share possible solutions to reach an affordable, secure and sustainable energy future.

CPI’s Dr. Barbara Buchner will participate on the panel titled, “Round Table 1: Key points for the energy transition from finance and economic perspectives”, alongside José Manuel Marqués, Head of Financial Innovation Division, Bank of Spain. Moderator for this panel is Jorge Sanz Oliva, Ex President of the Experts Commission for Energy Transition.

Co-organized by Climate Policy Initiative, Rocky Mountain Institute, and UNEP FI
Wednesday, December 11; 16:45 – 18:15
Room 4

In this official COP side event, Climate Policy Initiative, Rocky Mountain Institute, and UNEP FI will be joined by senior representatives of the public and private financial sector for a briefing and panel discussion on climate alignment, a quickly developing norm at the nexus of climate change and finance. This event will provide participants with a deeper understanding of what climate alignment is and how leading public and private financial institutions are working towards becoming aligned.

Photo credit: © cop25.cl