EBRD at COP 25

New Carbon Markets: supporting the low carbon transition in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean region

5 Decemeber, 10:30 - 12:00

With the Clean Development Mechanism, the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) countries gained experience of carbon markets, participating afterwards in the design of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. However, the application of domestic and international carbon market mechanisms remains very much limited in the region, which includes Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia. Through analysis, policy dialogues and results-based finance, the EBRD is supporting pilot activities to develop and expand carbon market mechanisms and drive the transition to low carbon economies in the area. Join us to discover the different carbon market options for the SEMED region and the necessary considerations around NDC transparency and accounting.

 Achieving Climate Ambition and Implementation through Legal Change

 5 December, 14:30 – 15:30 

Venue: UK Pavilion

Summary: Regulation and institutional reform are increasingly being used around the world to enhance ambition, implement the Paris Agreement and NDC targets, and foster partnership and cooperation. The law can provide for climate mitigation and adaptation outcomes, send signals to markets, unlock climate investment and incentivise transition. This panel provides a briefing on recent climate law innovations from different countries including the UK, surveys progress and lessons learned, and discusses their impact.

Following Paris Agreement, Implications for Finance, a Living Narrative

5 December 2019

16.45 - 18.15

Room 2

The Paris Agreement has triggered discussions about the implications for International Financing Institutions and the wider financial community. The development towards low carbon and climate resilient economies will require trillions of investments, in addition to substantive regulatory reform and innovation. A tool box is emerging to inform capital allocation decisions, starting from the high-level IPCC directions, the NDCs, Low Carbon Pathways, down to policies and regulations, and actual project preparation and implementation across regions and sectors. Metrics and approaches will be key to ensure information for investments is consistent and can be used to learn, drive and accelerate the scaling-up of climate action. 

Advanced MRV solution for unlocking carbon market potential

5 December, 15:00 - 16:30

Time-consuming and expensive: two complaints common to conventional emission reductions monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV). However, with the digital revolution already upon us, environmental markets are poised for big changes to embrace new technologies. The EBRD-Spain Integrated Carbon Programme for the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean region has created an advanced digital approach to MRV. Through automation, this approach can significantly lower transaction costs, improve data quality and increase transparency; these savings allow carbon market actors to engage in further low-carbon development activities.

Join us for an update on the automated MRV system and to discuss the opportunities and challenges digital technologies create when applied to market-based instruments.

Article 6 of the Paris Agreement

More information

 6 December, 17:00-18:30

Venue: Joint MDB Pavilion

The MDBs are working together on the design and piloting of carbon market and non-market mechanisms under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. This event will share insights from the MDBs’ piloting activities and the importance of Article 6 for climate ambition, market efficiency, and ability to absorb the negative effects of the scaled-up transition to low carbon and climate resilient economies. The World Bank will take a global view, which will be further articulated for the European region by the EBRD and South-East Asia by ADB. The event will also host guest speakers that will touch upon key elements of each of the key Article 6 articles 6.2, 6.4, and 6.8.

Climate Law and Governance Day

More information

Date: Friday, 6 December  

Venue: Autonomous University of Madrid Faculty of Law, 1 Calle Kelsen, 28049 Madrid

The EBRD is supporting for a fifth year the Climate Law and Governance Day (CLGD), which will take place at the Autonomous University of Madrid on 6 December. The meetings during the day will focus on the role of law and governance in fostering low carbon and resilient transition. The three key topics to be discussed by experts will cover:

1. Legal instruments for advancing Paris Agreement implementation and unlocking climate finance
2. Scaling-up national and regional climate legal frameworks for climate action
3. Establishing local and global partnerships and engagement.

 ‘Beyond Talk: EBRD Green Cities delivering policy and investments to scale up climate finance’

9 December, 10:00 to 11:30

There’s a lot of talk about the need to scale up climate finance. In this session the EBRD and GCF will present their experience of going beyond the talk to delivering climate finance on the ground.

This will draw on the Bank’s experience with linking strategic climate planning with a range of investment instruments to scale up climate finance in cities. The session will explore the challenges and opportunities with delivering climate finance on the ground in cities, and present business models that have proven adaptable to the demands and challenges unique to each city.

The objective of the session is to share knowledge and provide practical insights into the link between strategic investment planning and climate finance, providing in depth examples of how business models are executed on the ground.

COP25 Joint-MDB event on Paris Alignment Approach

Date: 10^th December 2019

Time: 13:15-15:00

Location: Joint-MDB Pavilion, Madrid, Spain

The event aims to bring together high-level representatives from MDBs and actors from other development institutions, development banks, government ministries, the institutional investors and research community. It will focus on sharing with key climate stakeholders:

• MDBs’ progress on defining what Paris Alignment means for MDB operations
• What MDBs have achieved to make our joint Paris Alignment approach operational and the challenges we are facing
• The role of MDBs in leading methodological development on Paris Alignment in the financial sector
• The role of MDBs om supporting countries in their transition into low carbon and climate resilient pathways, aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement

The event will showcase MDBs commitment to climate action ahead of the critical next COP in Glasgow in 2020. It will reference key elements put forward in the joint statement at the UNSG Climate Summit (launched publicly on 23 September 2019).

This event is a continuation of a series of external events organized by the MDBs in 2019 to share the broad approach and the progress made jointly, including: (i) the open-door event in Bonn in June 2019 to present the six Building Blocks that were announced publically in December 2018 as the core of the MDB approach to Paris Alignment; and (ii) discussion with CSOs and a technical dialogue on the progress made by the MDBs in September 2019 alongside the UNSG Climate Summit.

Joint MDB Event - Tracking and disclosure of climate finance

11 December, 12.00 - 13.00

Venue: Joint MDB Pavilion

The panel will discuss the extensive experiences of MDBs with the implementation of assessment and tracking systems for climate finance. The panel will focus on the future of climate finance as key metric to report on MDBs climate contributions, in the context of Paris alignment commitments.

• Evolution of the MDB Taxonomy for climate change activities. The impact of the MDB taxonomy in shaping the climate finance landscape and relation with evolving taxonomies, e.g. the EU Taxonomy and taxonomies in defining green bonds.
• Mobilisation of private finance and impacts of climate finance in and beyond project boundaries. Need for a shift from a project focus to an organisational focus?
• Implementation challenges: responding to demands for transparency.
• Climate finance targets as driver for increased action.

Speakers include MDBs, DFIs, OECD, CPI and green bond issuers

Financing a Just Transition

11 December from 13:15 to 15:00, MDB Pavilion

Agenda

Event hosted in the MDB Pavilion featuring the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), European Investment Bank (EIB), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank (WB).

The Paris Agreement makes clear that achieving its climate aims should result in a “Just Transition.” Just Transition means that a shift towards a climate-resilient and low-carbon economy must be pursued in a way that maximises its benefits and minimises any potential negative impacts on economies, workers and communities.

Just Transition has several angles: from supporting regions and communities which may be left with a high share of stranded assets or labour (e.g. coal mining regions) to helping vulnerable communities adapt to climate change (e.g. farmers in regions affected by increasingly severe droughts), as well as social impacts of climate change policies and projects (e.g. fuel poverty linked to the rise of energy costs).

A Just Transition is widely supported by countries. At COP24, 53 countries signed the “Just Transition Declaration” which recognises that understanding the social aspect of action on climate change is crucial for gaining social approval for the changes taking place. Furthermore, around 50 countries support the UN “Climate Action for Jobs” initiative launched in September 2019, whereby they have committed to formulate national just transition plans as part of long term strategies to tackle climate change.

As implementation of the Paris Agreement increasingly requires accelerated action, this will present challenges for economic activities linked to carbon-intensive industries, which may face significant short and medium term adverse impacts. This is why the European Union have pledged its support to its coal regions to ensure a just transition as it looks to become a climate neutral continent. This support involves thinking about how to transfer skills and resources to new economic sectors. 

Building on their existing activities, the objective of the event is to discuss and better define the role that Multilateral Development Banks can play to support Just Transition in its different dimensions, as well as areas for collaboration. Focus will be put on the range of policy and financial instruments that could be deployed by them in coming years.

Points of contact:

Russell Bishop, Principal Economist, EBRD – bishopr@ebrd.com (+44(0)7881013982)

Isabel Blanco, Associate Director, EBRD – blancoi@ebrd.com (+44(0) 7884738372)

You can register here.

To attend these events participants must be COP25 delegates.

For more information, please contact Jan-Willem van de Ven