COP28: GCA to award 10 climate innovations in November 2023 in Dubai

There are still three months to go before the opening of the 28^th United Nations Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP28) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The event, which takes place from 30 November to 12 December 2023 in the city of Dubai, will bring together a number of political leaders, businessmen, researchers and start-ups to assess the planet’s climate health.

The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) will be picking out the 10 best climate innovations from among the start-ups attending the event. This is part of the Local Adaptation Champions Award, which aims to combat pollution, drought and extreme weather phenomena on all five continents, particularly in Europe and Africa.

A total of five categories, including “capacity building”, “decentralised financing”, “corporate adaptation solutions” and “women in leadership”, are up for consideration. According to the GCA, “this last category is essentially aimed at local, national or global women entrepreneurs who conceive, defend and/or lead climate adaptation and resilience efforts in and for the most vulnerable communities”,says the Rotterdam-based institution in the Netherlands.

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At the same time, this will provide an opportunity to take stock with other institutions expected at COP28 of the role of women in the fight against global warming and, more broadly, of the fifth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG5), which advocates gender equality. In this area, the GCA, headed by Patrick Verkooijen, recently signed an agreement with the American asset management company Invesco. The aim is to mobilise funds to finance climate projects on the African continent, where “girls will have to travel even longer distances by 2025 to fetch water”, according to an Oxfam report.

Benoit-Ivan Wansi