Climate Solutions Week began at the OPEC Fund for International Development Headquarters in Vienna. It's an OPEC Fund event that brings together global partners, experts, policy makers, and stakeholders to create practical plans for achieving a fair and sustainable climate transition.
OPEC Fund President Abdulhamid Alkhalifa opened Climate Solutions Week, stating:
“Climate work is part of the OPEC Fund’s DNA as a development institution whose mandate is South-South cooperation and whose vision is sustainable development. We are committed to taking climate impact into account for each project we finance and aim to drive momentum on climate action together with key partners.”
Climate Solutions Week focuses on four main topics: clean cooking, energy transition, carbon markets, and nature-based solutions. Over five days, there will be more than 30 sessions where participants will evaluate new approaches and build partnerships together.
As a guest speaker on the opening day, Austrian Federal Minister for Climate Action, Leonore Gewessler, said:
“COP28 in Dubai was a major success in our fight for a sustainable future – and still we are facing huge challenges when it comes to addressing the climate crisis. These challenges call for ambitious, fast and science-based solutions. We need to transition away from fossil fuels and deploy renewables as fast as possible. Gatherings like the Climate Solutions Week are an important opportunity to keep the conversation going and to prepare for progress at COP29 this year.”
The COP28 Action Agenda is focused on speeding up a fair and organized energy transition, addressing climate finance, prioritizing people, nature, lives, and livelihoods, and promoting inclusivity to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, based on the science. The UAE consensus, COP28's outcome document, was signed by representatives from 197 countries.
Gabon's Minister of Environment, Climate, and Human-Wildlife Conflict Arcadie Svetlana Minguengui Ndomba epse N'zoma represented the country at the event. In her speech, she said:Gabon is devoted to a strategy to fight energy poverty and climate change by diversifying its economy, developing renewable energies, and improving energy efficiency. Our approach involves shared responsibility, a strong commitment to fairness and environmental justice, the enhancement of natural resources, and, most importantly, considering our specific characteristics as a developing country.”
The opening session for Climate Solutions Week on Monday includes speeches by Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Francesco La Camera, Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and Fatou Haidara, Deputy to the Director General and the Managing Director of the Directorate for Global Partnerships and External Relations, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
The OPEC Fund will also give its annual development award to Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM), a non-governmental organization in the capital of Bangladesh. DAM supports underprivileged women and smallholder farmers in the South Asian country. The OPEC Fund award, which focuses on gender equality and climate action for 2023, was established in 2006 and includes a prize of US$100,000.
The second part of Climate Solutions Week on Thursday and Friday will focus on the Nature Solutions Finance Hub First Partners Forum. This initiative was launched by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the OPEC Fund at the UN climate change conference COP28 in Dubai in December 2023 to increase the flow of finance into conserving and protecting nature and preventing biodiversity loss in the Asia & Pacific region. Working with finance and technical partners, ADB aims to mobilize at least US$2 billion by 2030 from public and private sources for nature-based solutions.
Other important people taking part in the Climate Solutions Week are Fareed Yasseen, who is the Climate Envoy and Advisor to the Prime Minister of Iraq; Warren Evans, Climate Envoy from the Office of the President at ADB; and Charis Lypiridis, who is the Fund Manager for the Climate Change Group at the World Bank. The speakers will discuss various topics such as "Raising Private Funds for Climate Adaptation and Mitigation," "Incorporating Climate Action into Development Finance," and "The Climate Mitigation Gap."
