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London Climate Action Week

Online: 26 June - 4 July 21

London Climate Action Week is an annual event bringing together climate professionals and communities across London and beyond to find practical solutions to climate change. It is the largest independent climate change event in Europe and uses London’s global perspective to spark climate action around the world. Last year, the event ran between 26 June and 4 July and focused on four key themes, three of which were directly aligned with Practical Action’s strategic aims.

During the event, our focus was on Theme 2: “The Road to COP26”, to help ensure the UK was prepared and had good evidence at the negotiations.

Theme 1: Green, fair and resilient recovery

World leaders committed to a green Covid-19 recovery that benefits everyone. London Climate Action Week’s events examined what needed to happen in the lead up to the UN COP26 climate conference to ensure a truly green, resilient and inclusive recovery.

Theme 2: Road to COP26 (UN Climate Change Conference)

As we got closer to the UN Climate Talks in Glasgow,  events in London explored what the expectations were for the 2021 summit and what needed to get done to ensure climate safety for all.

Theme 3: Whole of society climate action

Now more than ever, our planet needs everyone to work together to transform the global energy system. From our schools to government, from healthcare to innovation and finance, webinars and interactive sessions will span all sectors and will be open to everyone.

Theme 4: Sustainable, net-zero London

London is transforming and there will be no going back to how things were. A series of virtual events explored how the city can build back after so much change.

Why were Practical Action there?

Practical Action is a global organisation and London is an international city with a world-leading concentration of climate professionals working in public, private and not-for-profit sectors.

London Climate Action Week brings these people and their organisations together, recognising that climate change needs all sectors and disciplines to work more closely to quickly develop and scale-up solutions.

To understand real problems, identify key priorities and coordinate climate action, COP26 needed an inclusive, accessible and transparent approach.

Practical Action works with and understands urban and rural communities on the front line of climate change. We know what works and we share that with local, national and international decision makers across the globe to create large scale change for good.

Our participation in London Climate Action week enabled us to amplify the voices of the communities we work with and ensure a post-Covid, green recovery works for them.

Find out more

Where were Practical Action?

Loss and Damage: What we owe each other?

Webinar: talk & interactive session

Monday 28 Jun 15:00 to 16.30(BST)

We need a new and ambitious Social Contract to deliver a prosperous future for all. Our global panelists, along with audience participation, explored what any new contract for people and the planet should look like. The loss and damage agenda recognised we must find ways of ensuring that the people living in poverty and at the front line of the climate crisis do not end up paying twice. Together, identified ways in which those who consume most – states, businesses and individuals – can contribute their fair share to future sustainability. We explored what that system might look like, via cutting-edge ideas and highlight calls for action from around the world.

 

Session outline and speakers included:

  • Introduction from Event Chair: Jennifer Larbie, Christian Aid’s UK advocacy and policy lead
  • Keynote video address from Anne-Marie Trevelyan, UK International Champion on Adaptation and Resilience for the COP26 Presidency
  • What would a new social contract for people and planet look like?
    • Archbishop Julio Murray (TBC), Archbishop of Central America
    • Fatuma Mohamed, Power Shift Africa
    • Avinash Persaud, Adviser to Govt of Barbados
    • Julie-Anne Richards, Executive Director at Climate Action Network Australia
    • Her Excellency Saida Muna Tasneem, Bangladesh High Commissioner in the UK
  • Questions from audience: these will be moderated through the chair

 

Non-economic losses from climate change: Implications for COP 26

Webinar: talk & interactive session

Thu 01 Jul at 09:00 to 10:30

The impacts of climate change are felt hardest in developing countries and in vulnerable natural systems, reinforcing poverty and biodiversity loss.
This event focused on the non-economic losses from climate change, such as:

  • loss of life, health or mobility
  • loss of territory, cultural heritage or local knowledge
  • loss of biodiversity and ecosystems services

It  provided a chance to amplify the voices of communities most affected by non-economic losses (NEL); those whose lives and livelihoods are most impacted by climate change. We also addressed how nature-based solutions designed to enable people to adapt to climate change should be well planned and do not lead to further deterioration of ecosystems or exacerbate non-economic losses.

 

Session outline and speakers include:

  • Introduction to the NEL debate in the UNFCCC (Sandeep Chamling Rai, WWF)
  • Comparative study on NEL in a developed and a developing country context. (Quincy Childs and Sari Ohsada, Six Degrees, Oxford University)
  • Bringing the case study experience of NEL from the ground
    • Indigenous peoples and NEL (Pasang Dolma Sherpa, Indigenous Peoples’ Forum, Nepal
    • Small Island developing states and NEL (Linda Siegele, AOSIS negotiator)
    • Poor people and NEL (Afsari Begum, Practical Action Bangladesh)
  • Moderated Q&A session (Colin McQuistan, Practical Action)

What our event and London Climate Action Week offered:

 

  • The opportunity to get your voice heard by people who will be at the crucial UN climate talks in Glasgow
  • An open space to discuss how you and your business can help create meaningful change
  • First-hand reports from professionals about how climate change is impacting people around the world
  • A deep understanding of the Loss and Damage agenda and its importance to the future of the planet

 

How did London Climate Action Week fit into our journey to COP26?

Practical Action was an official observer at the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow last year.

Our event helped bring the voices of people already suffering the consequences of irreversible climate change to the fore.

It helped national Government representatives explore options and mechanisms by which they could enable polluters and those who consume most to contribute to a fair and sustainable future. By exploring such solutions, it helped negotiators from the Global South to strengthen their offer to big polluting nations and helped place them at the forefront of the global response to climate change.