MDB PAVILION SIDE-EVENTS
Dubai Climate Change Conference (COP28)
30 November – 12 December 2023
Joint MDB Pavilion – Side-event
Saturday, 2nd December
Innovative partnerships for local climate solutions: public banks, Islamic finance & philanthropy
5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
This side event will convene a dialogue about the variety of ways in which philanthropic capital, banks, and development cooperation partners can support financial innovations such as “blended finance” and initiatives to promote locally led and locally financed development. The event will gather high-level speakers representing the voice of Islamic finance, public development banks (the Finance in Common public development banks initiative), and leading philanthropic organizations resourcing sustainable local solutions to tackling climate change, addressing poverty and reducing inequality.
The side event aims to achieve three important outcomes:
1. Profile recent important publications around alternative sources of private capital mobilization, including Islamic finance and local/cross-border philanthropic investment.
2. Launch the dialogue initiative between public development banks that was discussed in September 2023 at the Finance in Common Summit in Cartagena.
3. Deepen awareness of innovative alternative sources of potential, and untapped, private capital assets that include local philanthropic giving and Islamic charitable finance.
Sunday, 3rd December
An African ticket to climate resilient food security: IsDB’s Regional Cassava Value Chain Program
11:30 am - 1:00 pm
The Side Event will examine the impacts of climate change on cassava production in Africa, and questions whether cassava can play an important role in climate change adaptation. The side event will involve discussions on success factors, obstacles encountered, resolution of problems and the ways of scaling up potentially highly cassava varieties resilient to future climatic changes and able to provide Africa with options for adaptation whilst other major food staples face challenges. It will explore the potential of cassava production as a climate change adaptation strategy in Africa.
Wednesday, 6th December
Delivering Financial Resilience to Climate Risks Through Takaful
3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
This event aims to build awareness around the opportunity for Takaful, a shariah-compliant insurance alternative, to build the financial resilience of vulnerable communities, especially in countries with significant Muslim populations. The event will feature the launch of the IsDB – IsDB Institute – UNDP report, Insuring a Sustainable Future: Building climate resilience through Takaful, and along with the commitments to further develop a public-private Takaful Alliance.
The panel will be composed of high-level representatives from UNDP, IsDB/IsDBI, KFH, AGFUND and a government partner to discuss the potential of Takaful in delivering financial resilience.
Friday, 8th December
Climate financing for the next generation: A Dialogue with Multilateral Development Banks and Youth
11:30 am - 1:00 pm
Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) are critical stakeholders in the climate finance agenda given their capacity to leverage capital and provide debt financing. In this process, it is critical that the needs and rights of children and young people are considered in future climate financing decisions.
Event objectives:
1. Convene MDB leaders and youth advocates and provide a platform for engagement to ensure the views and preferences of young people are heard by climate finance decision-makers.
2. Advocate for child-friendly climate investments in MDB financing packages. This includes an explicit focus on social sectors, including climate-responsive social protection and climate education which the leading climate funds have altogether neglected.
3. Provide an opportunity for youth advocates to hear directly from MDB leaders on how their organizations can champion better climate investments for the next generation, to help inform their future youth-led advocacy efforts.
Monday, 11th December
Fostering partnerships towards NetZero Economies in MENA
3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
This side event aims to enhance awareness about the need for partnerships and collaboration to accelerate efforts towards NetZero economies. It will focus specifically on available opportunities (technologies, incentives, policies, networks) related to renewable and clean energy and energy efficiency in the Middle East and North Africa, and introduce innovative business/partnership models to address those opportunities and accelerate green/sustainable investment in Paris and SDG-aligned projects.