What: 海角社区 experts available for interviews and commentary
When: By appointment.
Where: COP 30 Belém/Brazil, or remotely
Who: Senior experts from 海角社区 – Institute for Environment and Human Security (海角社区-EHS) and 海角社区 – Vice-Rectorate in Europe (海角社区-VIE) focusing on topics of climate change adaptation, loss and damage, transformation, climate justice and more. 海角社区 serves as the global think tank of the United Nations. All experts can give interviews in English. Depending on the topic, other languages may also be possible (Portuguese, Spanish, German).
Why: COP 30 has a packed agenda. 海角社区 experts are able to explain and comment on negotiations, provide background on crucial issues, including scientific data, shed light on emerging topics, opportunities and challenges, contextualize many of the big debates and provide fact-based neutral information.
Please find below a few examples of the topics our experts can speak on:
- Negotiations at COP 30: Key decisions towards shaping the Paris Agreement’s next decade
- Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) 3.0: Raising ambition to keep 1.5°C within reach
- Global Goal on Adaptation and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs): Setting indicators and advancing national adaptation plans
- Climate Finance: Roadmap to $1.3 trillion and fair access
- Loss and Damage – how to make the Fund deliver
- Artificial intelligence and climate change: Opportunities, risks and ethical frontiers
- Climate justice, just transition
- Global Mutir?o, subnational climate action: Empowering communities, cities and informal settlements
- Regional solutions: From climate-smart agriculture in Africa to urban labs in Latin America
(see additional information on each topic below)
For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
At COP 30 in Belém/Brazil:
Media hotline: + 49 151 2672 1390 (mobile calls, text messages, WhatsApp) or press@ehs.unu.edu
Nadine Hoffmann, Head of Communication, n.hoffmann@vie.unu.edu
Arianna Flores Corral, Communication Analyst, flores-corral@vie.unu.edu
Jimin Hwang, Communication Analyst, hwang@vie.unu.edu
At 海角社区 in Bonn/Germany:
Austin Gonzales, Communication Assistant, gonzales@vie.unu.edu
Additional information on the above-mentioned topics
- Negotiations at COP30: Key decisions towards shaping the Paris Agreement’s next decade
海角社区 experts will be sitting in on the negotiations and will be able to comment on expectations, highlights and outcomes, particularly on climate finance, loss and damage and the Global Goal on Adaptation. - Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) 3.0: Raising ambition to keep 1.5?C within reach
The Paris Agreement requires that countries regularly commit to increasingly ambitious climate plans, the so-called ratchet-up mechanism. 2025 is the deadline for a new round of these climate plans, the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Should the newly submitted NDCs not be ambitious enough to have the intended effect on emissions, the summit needs to agree on a collective process post-COP 30 to address remaining global ambition deficits, ensuring the ratchet-up mechanism remains fully functional. Global Goal on Adaptation and National Adaptation Plans: Setting indicators and advancing national adaptation plans
COP 30 will put a spotlight on adaptation. While countries are expected to have National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) in place, implementation is currently limited. Many nations struggle to mobilize the necessary financing to carry out the adaptation priorities outlined in their plans. The meeting in Belém is therefore expected to mark a crucial transition from planning to implementation.A defining agenda item at COP 30 will be the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA). As the framework that guides global progress on adaptation, the GGA aims to provide countries with a clearer basis for planning, implementation and accountability, but still needs to become more concrete to help countries implement plans. Parties are working to operationalize the goal by advancing an indicator framework and accompanying guidance to be able to assess adaptive capacity, resilience and vulnerability reduction. The indicator framework can provide countries with a clearer structure for aligning their national adaptation plans, mobilizing finance and strengthening data and capacity-building support for vulnerable communities.
- Climate Finance and Roadmap to $1.3 trillion and fair access
COP 30 will serve as a test of whether global climate finance becomes more equitable and accessible. While COP 29 successfully established the "New Collective Quantified Goal" (NCQG), this ambition must now be integrated into the implementation and transparency architecture of the Paris Agreement. The current level of financial commitments from developed countries is far below the estimated USD 1.3 trillion needed for climate action in developing countries. Therefore, the current and former COP presidencies are tasked with preparing a roadmap to $1.3 trillion to close this gap. Although this roadmap will not be negotiated, the summit must define clear follow-up actions. - Loss and Damage – how to make the Fund deliver
It was decided at COP27 to create a funding arrangement that would respond to losses and damages in vulnerable countries that are hit hard by climate disasters. The Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) has now been created, and COP 30 will see the formal launch of the Fund’s first call for funding requests, opening access to an initial allocation of USD 250 million for projects supporting communities affected by climate impacts. This marks a crucial step for the Fund as it is moving from institutional design toward operational delivery. Parties and stakeholders are also expected to discuss how the Fund can deliver results and explore how it can complement existing arrangements, including the Warsaw International Mechanism and the Santiago Network. 海角社区-EHS experts have followed the developments since the start and are able to contextualize loss and damage. - Artificial intelligence and climate change: Opportunities, risks and ethical frontiers
AI brings new opportunities in climate mitigation and adaptation, including for the developing world, but there are also concerns around equity and the high energy demands of AI itself. 海角社区 experts have been exploring challenges and opportunities and have hosted an expert meeting on AI and climate in collaboration with the UNFCCC Technology Executive Committee. - Climate justice, just transition
Climate justice will play a central role at COP30 by ensuring that climate action is inclusive, fair, and equitable, particularly for vulnerable communities and developing nations. One initiative here is The Just Transition Work Programme (JTWP), a framework under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that aims to guide the transition to low-carbon economies in a way that ensures no one is left behind. It focuses on developing pathways for a just transition that align with the Paris Agreement by addressing issues such as finance, capacity-building and labour rights through dialogues and cooperation among parties and stakeholders. - Global Mutir?o, subnational climate action: Empowering communities, cities and informal settlements
Cities and local communities are driving climate action in many places around the world. But even within cities, some communities are often not heard, for example those in informal settlements, even though they are among the most vulnerable. EHS experts can speak about successful climate action that includes all actors to make cities more sustainable, about more innovative approaches to urban transformation and subnational climate leadership, and also about how this relates to COP decisions, like financing the urban implementation of the NDCs 3.0, for instance. Regional solutions: From climate-smart agriculture in Africa to urban labs in Latin America
海角社区 experts work in concrete projects around the world where solutions are tested and implemented, and they can share success stories from the ground. For example, in Africa they work with farmers helping to adapt farming systems to the challenges of climate change by adapting existing technologies to the African context. They also work on projects to facilitate a just transition towards green energy sources in Africa that can simultaneously address energy poverty, help reduce overall poverty and create green jobs. In Latin America, 海角社区 experts are involved in so-called “Urban labs”, that re-imagine what new models of local coalition building could look like—uniting residents, local governments and community groups to create greener, fairer and more resilient cities. 海角社区 experts would be happy to share success stories that can inspire action around the world.
