Supporting climate change mitigation and adaptation through financial and political tools

Sara Yazdi and Kaia Waxenberg

Artwork: Dr Cécile Girardin

Through the emergence and implications of the Paris Agreement, we’ve become aware of the importance of finance and regulation to effective climate mitigation. Within the financial world, climate, physical and transition risks can have negative impacts on individual and systemic financial stability. On the other hand, financial tools and risk management may offer substantial opportunities for supporting climate change mitigation.

On Friday 21 May, Climate Exp0 will address the importance of finance and regulation through discussions with experts in climate finance from academia, central banks and financial regulation. They will explore disclosure and risk management, access to finance, macropolicy and novel financial instruments, as well as legal obligations within the Paris Agreement, and climate law and governance innovations.

Morning

The Finance and Regulation day will open with a policy roundtable introducing major themes in climate risk and finance, featuring a panel of leading experts in the field. The panel will explore international examples of progress and challenges in climate financial risk assessment.

After the opening event, three parallel sessions will provide deeper insight into…

1. Disclosure and risk management: Discussing challenges related to transparently communicating climate-related financial risk.
2. Access to finance: Exploring how climate finance interacts with the gender gap, inequality, the urban vs. rural divide, and digital access.
3. Climate law and governance: Moving away from finance, the Climate Law and Governance Initiative will lead a discussion on climate regulation and legislation.

On demand content and a virtual poster hall exploring themes and research in climate finance and regulation will also open first thing in the morning.

Afternoon

The afternoon will kick off with another set of parallel sessions, offering in depth discussions of:

1. Macropolicy: Including conventional and novel financial policy options for supporting mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
2. Green bonds: Discussing research on the regulation and pricing of green bonds, as well as other novel financial instruments.
3. Student research: Exploring student projects related to the day’s theme.

The second half of the afternoon will offer three special sessions, which relate to the broader goals of Climate Exp0 rather than finance alone:

1. A Q&A on Climate Exp0 topics and their relevance to COP26 negotiations, as well as topics which have not been represented at the Exp0.
2. An overview of national obligations under the Paris Agreement and how they relate to the five conference themes, providing a nice conclusion for the week.
3. A session on localising the circular economy, led by the Urban Economy Forum, bringing together city leaders, urban professionals, financial institutions, community groups and researchers to present success stories and practical approaches for creating local circular economies.

Closing Sessions

A closing policy session will be on Opportunity and Finance. This panel discussion will explore issues such as:

• The transition to a carbon neutral future by 2050.
• The 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 in the EU.
• Concrete policies and actions of how the global financial system can be mobilised to support this radical change.
• How global finance can work for the climate and biodiversity.

The closing roundtable event invites practitioners, regulators, multilateral agencies, governments, third sector/NGOs and civil society to draw on their experiences on how to meet the ambitious 2050 targets and support a just transition.

Climate Exp0 will then conclude with a closing session including final remarks and a panel debate ‘Ask a Climate Change expert: How can we save our planet?’, featuring leading experts on how we as individuals can make a difference now to help us move towards net zero.

Online, free and open to all — see you at the Climate Exp0! Register today at https://www.climateexp0.org/

Climate Exp0 is the first virtual conference from the COP26 Universities Network and the Italian University Network for Sustainable Development (RUS), sponsored by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), Cambridge University Press, the Conference of Italian University Rectors (CRUI), and the 2021 UN Climate Change Summit (COP26).

Running from 17–21 May 2021, it takes place at a critical juncture in the COP26 pre-meetings and negotiations, and is part of the All4Climate Italy 2021 official pre-COP26 initiatives. Learn more and register your place via https://www.climateexp0.org.