Business leaders, ambassadors, industry experts and representatives from the COP Troika governments of the UAE, Azerbaijan and Brazil joined discussions hosted by the UK government to galvanise global climate action ahead of COP29.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, Development Minister Anneliese Dodds and Environment Secretary Steve Reed chaired the discussions on global climate action.
The three roundtables focused on financing the transition to renewable energy, accelerating investment in projects improving climate resilience, and the global treaty to end plastic pollution.
Accelerating global climate action ahead of COP29
The meetings took place ahead of COP29, where the UK will play a lead in securing a new and expanded finance goal that unlocks more funding from the private sector and financial institutions.
This will help scale up global climate action in developing countries and mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Changing climate patterns have led to some of the most severe droughts on record in Brazil’s Amazon region, and increasingly severe floods and storms in Bangladesh are leaving low-lying regions at constant risk from rising sea levels.
Tackling climate change both in the UK and worldwide is essential to ensuring energy security, delivering economic growth, and protecting current and future generations.
Each roundtable focused on gaining agreements from participants to support the government’s world-leading climate agenda and setting the stage for impactful dialogue in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Mobilising finance for a green energy transition roundtable
Led by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, participants including IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol, Azerbaijan Finance Minister Samir Sharifov and President of the World Economic Forum Borge Brende agreed that scaling clean energy investment into Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDE) is key to delivering global climate action.
These investments would triple renewable deployment and double energy efficiency rates by 2030 – limiting global temperature rises to 1.5°C as set out in the Paris Agreement.
Building the business case for adaptation and resilience roundtable
In a discussion led by Development Minister Anneliese Dodds, participants recognised the significant financing gap in climate adaptation – especially compared with mitigation funding – and the need to close this gap and ensure climate risks are priced into investment decisions.
Participants agreed that the business case for climate-resilient finance must be made and that partnerships across the public and private sectors are critical to achieving this.
Plastic pollution treaty roundtable
In a discussion opened by Environment Secretary Steve Reed, senior leaders from leading businesses, retailers, and financial institutions discussed the importance of agreeing to an ambitious, legally binding plastic pollution treaty at UN negotiations in Busan later in November.
The time to take global climate action is now
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: “Britain is back in the business of climate leadership because the only way to protect current generations in the UK is by making Britain a clean energy superpower, and the only way to protect our children and future generations is by leading global climate action.
“At COP29 next week, we will work with other countries to step up our ambition on tackling the climate crisis because the time for decisive action is now.”
Development Minister Anneliese Dodds added: “We urgently need to do more to improve resilience to the impacts of climate change.
“We need to build a global economy and infrastructure that can withstand the increasingly damaging impacts of the climate crisis. This will require attention across the global financial system to unlock private finance to reach the $387bn needed.”
Following the roundtables, guests attended a reception hosted by the King at Buckingham Palace to discuss the outcome of their discussions, co-hosted with the Sustainable Markets Initiative. The Foreign Secretary was also in attendance.
