3 December 2023, Sunday, SE Room 6, COP 28 Blue Zone

* UNFCCC Side Event in partnership with Durham University Centre for Sustainable Development Law and Policy, Global Ethical Finance Initiative, and Climate Markets and Investment Association

Click HERE for the recording

This session examined the role of investors, trade and investment in addressing the ambition gap as highlighted in the technical assessment phase of the global stocktake. According to the UNFCCC, global additional investment, and financial flows of USD 200-210 billion will be needed in 2030 to return global greenhouse gas emissions to current levels. Private finance can play an important role in meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement – not only through mobilising funding for transitions and for adaptation finance, but also by engaging with governments on the importance and feasibility of ambitious and decisive climate action. Many investors are already mobilising analytical tools and investment strategies to engage governments on climate risks, including in the sovereign debt space. The alignment of the international legal frameworks on climate change with the rules on trade and investment, ranging from trade in “green” goods and services, investment protection and facilitation and dispute settlement, will be important for meeting the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement. Trade, investment, and global partnerships have the potential to deliver the markets and technological innovations that are critical for effective mitigation and adaptation.

The aim of this event in the Blue Zone at COP28 is to facilitate a dialogue among practitioners, experts and negotiators on how investors and international law can facilitate accelerated progress towards closing the ambition and the implementation gaps. In the first part, the session will explore how the global stocktake can be an ambition enhancing mechanism by unlocking trade and investment that is aligned with the Paris Agreement’s temperature goal. In a second part, the discussion will focus on how investors are increasingly focused on engaging governments on their efforts to tackle climate risk.

MODERATORS

» Danielle Yeow, Lead, Climate Change Law and Policy, Centre for International Law, National University of Singapore

» Jaakko Kooroshy, Global Head Sustainable Investment Research, London Stock Exchange Group

PANELLISTS

» Mahmoud Mohieldin, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP27, UN Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Agenda

» Ralph Ossa, Chief Economist and Director, Economics Research and Statistics Division, WTO

» Tiofilusi Tiuetilusi, Minister of Finance, Kingdom of Tonga

» Petra Minnerop, Professor of International Law, Durham University Law

» Nick Robins, Professor in Practice – Sustainable Finance, London School of Economics

» Faith Ward, Chair, Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change and Chief Responsible Investment Officer, Brunel Pension Partnership