Lessons from London Climate Action Week 2024

3 July 2024, Category: All insights, News

By Laura Castro, Juliana Castro Escobar & Beverley Salmon

This summer, London hosted the latest London Climate Action Week (LCAW). This week-long series of events brings together industry experts, climate professionals, organisations, and communities to create a space for conversations about current initiatives to tackle climate change, what is still missing, and what the next steps can be for each and every sector.

Particularly, this week of events focused on how cities are applying innovative solutions and progressing to reach net-zero commitments, how businesses are moving from a linear to a more circular economy, and the challenges in achieving sustainability goals. It provides a space for attendees to reflect on their work and contribute to discussions about how their sector can move to a green transition and adopt a critical lens to analyse what is missing and needs to be addressed.

We were able to attend several of the talks over the week, and share some thoughts below:

• Carbon & biodiversity finance that supports community rights
• Cities Climate Action Summit 2024
• The 2024 Ashden Awards

Carbon & biodiversity finance that supports community rights: Unpacking the ingredients for lasting impact at scale

Date: Wed 26-June-2024 

Moderator: Anna Lehmann – Executive Director, People Forests Partnership.

Speakers: 

• Pasang Dolma Sherpa – Executive Director, Centre for Indigenous Peoples’s Research & Development.
• Gustavo Sanchez – Executive Commission, Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests.
• Emma Cooper – Head of land rights, Scottish Land Commission.
• Zoe Quiroz-Cullen- Director of Climate and Nature Linkages, Fauna & Flora
• Feja Lesniewsk – Senior lectures in Sustainable Transitions & Environmental Law, Surrey University.
• Rupert Quinlan – Associate Director, The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market. 

“Conservation cannot happen without human rights being a core part of the process.” — Rupert Quinlan

This event explored the role of carbon and diversity finance as tools to strengthen community rights. It included key case studies from the UK, Liberia, Nepal, and Latin America, highlighting the need to recognise the dependence of Indigenous communities on natural resources, and the bond between these resources and their cultural, traditional, and spiritual heritage. The event stressed the importance of recognising the gaps that keep Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) out of conversations around carbon markets and the effective management of their natural resources.

There were important remarks on how land tenure is a differential factor for communities to manage their resources and be part of carbon markets. Without this, Indigenous Peoples are exposed to illegal land grabbing, leaving them in a state of vulnerability and causing them to lose their resources and means of livelihood. All the panellists agreed that low engagement and capacity building are issues that need to be addressed, as well as the need to create more equal relationships and partnerships that could translate into equal benefits, as expressed by Gustavo Sanchez: “Join efforts to tackle the challenges in front of us.” This highlights the role of organisations in acknowledging the struggles of IPLCs in joining a carbon market that has not been designed to include them and in gaining a role as active participants rather than simply direct beneficiaries.

Overall, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities should be taken into account in carbon and biodiversity finance. Future guidelines and policies implemented by organisations should highlight the crucial role of Indigenous communities in the effective management of their natural resources. These initiatives should be adapted to the needs of each community, ensuring that their limitations are addressed and focused on bridging the existing gaps, such as developing the skills of the IPLCs to ensure their participation in all stages of projects and beyond.

At E Co. we work extensively with IPLCs to assess the impact of proposed or implemented large-scale climate projects, many of which look at financing modalities and equitable mechanisms for inclusion. While it can be a challenge, global funds (not least through Civil Society Observers (CSOs)) are driving awareness of the importance of Indigenous Peoples’ voices through their assessment priorities, and the trend is very much to add significant weight to this impact. 

Cities Climate Action Summit 2024

During LCAW 2024, the second edition of the Cities Climate Action Summit 2024 (CCAS) took place as a series of in-person and online events. The conversations served as a pivotal gathering point for policymakers, organisations, mayors, and professionals involved in urban climate initiatives to connect and exchange insights.

We were able to attend a number of key events:

Unlocking the transition to renewables through innovative policymaking.  

Thu 27-Jun-2024

Moderator: Jeff Risom – Chief Innovation Officer, Gehl

Speakers:

• Cllr Shanika Mahendran – Cabinet Member for Climate, Sustainability and Innovation, Milton Keynes City Council.
• Alderman Alison Gowman – Lead member for Climate Action, City of London Corporation.
• Cassie Sutherland – Managing Director, Climate Solutions and Networks, C40 Cities.

This event centred around the conversation of renewable energy and its impact on job creation, as well as the concept of a suitable transition applied to city and transportation contexts. It also discussed how cities can benefit from a just transition, which could improve air quality and minimise the risk of communities facing public health issues or related concerns linked to high pollution.

On a broader scale, it’s not just about having the right policies and regulations; finance should also be considered and aligned within a holistic framework. Overall, there should be more emphasis on the co-benefits of energy efficiency and how cities can access the technology that supports it.

As part of the conversation, speakers emphasised the need to recognise what has been developed in other cities as inspiration for innovation, as is the case of:  

• Curitiba contributions to public transit, urban planning, and land use. 
• Floating solar systems in Singapore.

Overall, the speakers highlighted key issues for cities and residents in the renewable energy transition, such as improving public health and fostering job creation. Additionally, there was a remark on how cities must foster integration, and diversity, and be built as places for individuals to settle, adapt and grow in their places. In that sense, every implementation should also consider the spillover effects it could have on other communities, especially in specific low-income areas.

Urban resilience-Bridging cities and insurance to accelerate climate finance

Thu 27-Jun-2024 

Moderator: Daniel Stander – Deputy Chair, Resilient Cities Network.

Speakers:

• Mary Kerr- Climate Finance Manager, Glasgow City Council.

• Holly Roberts-Harry – Director, Climate Risk and Resilience, Howden.

• Adam Lechmere- Climate and Resilience Strategy Manager. United Utilities.

This discussion centred around how cities can focus on their environmental and sustainability targets and secure the funding needed to develop projects for achieving urban resilience. The principal questions that arose were: How to bring the right people to the table? What are the key partnerships and how can they aid in developing and funding the appropriate projects?

Moreover, the role insurance companies play in projects targeting climate change mitigation or adaptation was a key focus. Speakers noted the need for insurance companies to have a more proactive role by providing a steady flow of cash or revenue to offer security to investors, thereby making it more feasible for private investors to contribute.

Roundtables

As part of the Climate Cities Action Summit, roundtables were held with the objective of bringing together key stakeholders from local authorities, technology providers, investors, and climate professionals to generate innovative ideas and practical strategies for overcoming the challenges faced in climate action.

We participated in the “Mobilising Climate Finance for Sustainable Cities” roundtable to gain another perspective from key stakeholders on this topic. From this, important conclusions were drawn:

• There was an agreement that councils need access to the right type of funding to further develop and accelerate projects that can help them achieve net-zero goals. However, they recognise how difficult it is to approach and connect with the right institutions and how unclear it is for them to access that funding. Although such projects remain a work in progress and a definitive answer is not yet clear, the goal of this event is to open discussions on how further research and data analysis can help find suitable methods to fill those gaps and increase funding access to these crucial areas.
• There is insufficient capacity to implement or develop projects of such large scale.
• There should be opportunities for capacity building and the exchange of lessons learned from other cities in the region. Increased collaboration can lead to better long-term results.

The 2024 Ashden Awards

“Focusing on solutions storytelling so that we can interact fatalism with the reality of incredible solutions happening across the globe” – Solitaire Townsend

We were fortunate to have the privilege to attend 2024’s Ashden Awards. This event showcases inspiring, creative, pioneering projects, projects that are leading the way in meaningful climate action. 

For the E Co. team, attending the Ashden Awards was an invaluable opportunity to learn from innovative solutions addressing pressing socio-environmental challenges across sectors and geographies in which we work and aim to grow in. It also reaffirmed our commitment to diversity, a core value of our organisation. 

We believe that fostering diversity in thought and action is essential, as no single sector, background, or solution can address the global biodiversity and climate crisis without innovative networks of collaboration.

Watch our Consultant Juliana Castro Escobar and Head of Consulting Beverley Salmon describe what they took away from this inspiring event below.

Our final thoughts

The main takeaway we’d like to present is that these events encourage us to highlight issues that are often overlooked and neglected, such as the role of IPLCs in carbon markets, as well as industry advancements and the role of financial and insurance institutions. This underscores the idea that tackling climate change requires collective efforts, with radical collaboration from various actors such as companies, governments, civil societies and stakeholders.

It is important to consider events like these as part of an ongoing conversation rather than the end goal, where final remarks are merely left on paper. It is fundamental that these conclusions generate an impact moving forward and open the space for more industries and cities to participate. More importantly, as an organisation, we must emphasise the importance of participating in these conversations, by understanding and studying the multifaceted ways to implement our work in various fields and to align and prioritise the objectives and principles of our company within climate change mitigation and adaptation. 

‘Just transition’ is a core phrase when looking at climate adaptation and mitigation projects, and cities hold so much potential and risk. The potential to support those most vulnerable to have equitable access to resources, social and economic mobility and health impact, and risk in that they can be left behind. In our assignments at E Co. we work closely with public and private institutions, local communities, local governments, companies, and investors to support a just transition in the energy, infrastructure, water, transport and housing sectors (amongst many others); reimagining climate solutions in cities for equitable impact.

Keep up-to-date with climate finance know-how

Looking for insight into climate finance? Look no further

Get in touch with our climate finance consultants to discuss a project you’re working on and create successful, fit-for-purpose projects, now and in the future. Email us at: amy@ecoltdgroup.com or find us at the following:

Twitter: @ecoltdnews

LinkedIn: E Co.

Instagram: @ecoltdnews