As the United Arab Emirates prepares to host the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the UNited Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the venue of focus will be Expo City Dubai.
A state-of-the-art destination built to promote sustainability and circularity principles, the venue’s size and design enables COP28 UAE to serve as an inclusive platform for dialogue, by offering a dedicated space to the accredited parties and observer delegates site (Blue Zone) and to civil society (Green Zone).
Expo City Dubai Pavilion: Aimed at catalyzing awareness, agency, and action; connecting people and ideas, and inspiring everyday individuals, the pavilion enables everyone to make a positive difference to the environment and to society itself. The pavilion features a plethora of events, exhibitions and actions that enable all visitors to be participants in the climate change fight.
Events: More than a 100 events are planned at the pavilion for all audiences and ages. These events will seek to break through existing echo chambers, connecting world leaders, experts and changemakers from all cultures and communities and sparking new and outcomes-led approaches to driving climate action.
Exhibitions: Future of our world rests significantly on the actions of cities today. The exhibitions at the pavilion allow visitors to embark on a journey where they live, work and play as part of a community making leaps forward that are innovative, scalable and transferable — and that will empower other cities around the world not just to survive, but to withstand and thrive.
Take Action: Pledge for People and Planet is an opportunity for every one of us to make a positive difference through climate action. This is also the first Arabic-language platform to apply meaningful steps and solutions to individual everyday choices, from the food we buy and eat to how we reuse and recycle. Available in Arabic and English, it is your opportunity to join a global movement to save carbon emissions and protect the future of people and the planet
In addition to events and programs at the venue, COP28 Presidency is planning a set of thematic programs across the two weeks of COP28. The events are a product of guidance from a diverse set of stakeholders on the outcomes they would like to see under each thematic day, also reflecting inputs from the open consultation process earlier this year.
Counting On A Sustainable Future: A global conference on gender and environment will be held on 28-29 November and as part of existing global efforts to understand gender-environment nexus, the Offices of the President of the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP 28) and the UN Climate Change High Level Champions, UNFCCC, UN Women, IUCN, and WEDO will convene a global conference on gender and environment data. Speakers and participants will include UN Agencies, government officials and policy makers, leaders and commitment makers of the Feminist Action for Climate Justice Action Coalition and the Gender Environment Data Alliance (GEDA), private foundations, civil society organizations, indigenous leaders and local communities and academia.
Student Energy Summit: Taking place in Abu Dhabi and Dubai on 1 December, Student Energy Summit 2023 will be the world’s largest youth-led energy event, providing a transformative space for young people to collaborate on energy solutions with industry leaders.
SES will bring together 650+ young people and energy sector leaders from over 150 countries to the United Arab Emirates for a collaborative, multidisciplinary forum. The event will be hosted by New York University Abu Dhabi, in collaboration with Student Energy, a global youth-led organization working with a network of 50,000 young people from over 120 countries, alongside the headline sponsor for this year’s event, the Bezos Earth Fund, the largest individual philanthropic commitment made to fight climate change and protect nature.
SES is hosted biannually in a new city around the globe. At the margins of COP28, SES will be coming to the Middle East for the first time, highlighting the success story and vision of the UAE’s energy transition. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is the partner to the event.
Leaders’ Event: Transforming Climate Finance: The Finance Event on 1 December at the World Climate Action Summit (WCAS) will bring together countries and financial leaders to outline proposals for a climate finance system of the future. The event will set out a new vision for an overarching structure and set of organizing principles for a more equitable, scalable, and inclusive international climate finance architecture.
Emphasis will be given to the need to rebuild trust by ramping up public support, particularly for the most vulnerable, while scaling capital in emerging and developing countries, as well as breakthrough innovations, partnerships, policy incentives, and transformative instruments to unlock the potential of the private sector.
Leaders’ Event: Transforming food systems: The event on 1 December will reiterate what the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessments have identified — action on agriculture and food systems is key to an effective global climate change response. This event will bring the global food community together in a unified expression of collective action.
Anchored by the Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action, producers, governments, companies, financial actors, and non-state leaders will convene to make new commitments that raise the bar for global ambition and action on food systems transformation.
Terra: The Sustainability Pavilion The future of our planet hangs in the balance – here is where you come in. When did you last examine your relationship with nature? Go on an immersive journey through the forest’s roots and the ocean’s depths to explore the impact humanity’s choices are having on the environment and gain skills to protect and preserve our planet for generations to come. This engaging, playful and reflective experience is designed to take visitors of all ages, particularly children, on an emotional journey to understand their impact on the environment and empower them to build a brighter future.
Terra – The Sustainability Pavilion is LEED Platinum Certified and designed to be Net Zero in Energy and Water. The building’s iconic architecture includes a canopy that is 120-meter-wide and 18 Energy Trees which help generate 4GWh of alternative energy per year.
Expo City Farm: Join the Expo City Farm and see how we are making our city green and fertile. Experience sustainable agriculture, nutrition without chemicals, food security without greenhouse gas emissions, growing as a community. See organic farming in action. Find out about the ability of soil to remove CO2 from the atmosphere in the fight against climate change. Witness indoor farming, irrigation water from the air, and other technological innovations.
And when you are hungry you can relax and take some naturally-grown food from our plant-rich farm café. Or if you are interested in nutritious cuisine, sign up for a cooking class with one of our sustainability-inspired chefs. For those interested in taking a deeper dive into regenerative farming, events are being scheduled on soil carbon storage, crop nutrition and the key role sustainable agriculture plays in averting biodiversity loss.
We need to act on climate change, NOW
Scientists, researchers, and other stakeholders around the world report changes beyond the natural variation of temperatures on land and in the ocean. Reports also show abnormal trends in the timing of seasons, in rainfall patterns, and in many other weather- and climate-related systems.
The science on climate change is clear. There is no question that these abnormal changes result from global warming due to an increased greenhouse effect caused by the vast amounts of greenhouse gases (GHG) added to the atmosphere by human activities.
In response to this, an international climate regime has developed — United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Governments, intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, businesses, research bodies, civil society and more are working together in support of UNFCCC to build the science and knowledge that allow us to tackle the causes and threats of climate change.
Key underlying facts from our scientific knowledge on climate are:
The concentration of GHGs has been rising steadily since the time of the Industrial Revolution as a result of human activity, primarily the burning of fossil fuels and changes in land use, leading to increasing global temperatures.
The average global temperature on Earth is directly linked to the concentration of GHGs in the atmosphere. Small rises in temperature have major impacts on weather and climate systems, causing detrimental impacts for life and society.
Urgent action is needed to mitigate additional emissions, reduce the GHGs concentration in the atmosphere, and to adapt to the current and future impacts of climate change.
ReWirEd Summit on Education during COP28
The second iteration of the RewirEd Summit, the flagship platform of Dubai Cares, is set to take place on 8 December at the Green Zone of Dubai Expo City on the sidelines of the 28th session of the Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28).
Dubai Cares, a global philanthropic organization, which is part of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, has been working towards providing children and youth in developing countries with access to quality education through the design and funding of programs that aim to be impactful, sustainable and scalable.
The ReWirEd Summit, which is being held as part of the ‘Youth, Children, Education and Skills’ Thematic Day on the sidelines of COP28, will advocate for rewired education systems as the core enabler for a sustainable future for people and the planet.
Bringing together heads of state, ministers, high-profile dignitaries from UN agencies, international NGOs, climate actors, CEOs and business leaders, as well as teachers, children, youth and indigenous leaders, the Summit seeks to drive concrete action towards education transformation for climate action through the active participation of all segments of society.
Chief Executive Officer and Vice-Chairman of Dubai Cares, Dr. Tariq Al Gurg, said: “Rewiring education for climate action is one of the most pressing needs of our time as it is the foundation of a sustainable future for people and the planet. With education being deprioritized in adaptation and mitigation strategies, the 2nd edition of the RewirEd Summit will serve as a much-awaited opportunity to position transformed education systems at the heart of climate strategies. The Summit’s programming, therefore, has been carefully curated to ensure that it aligns with the priorities of the education sector, while also contributing to climate agendas through win-win solutions.
For his part, Chief Executive Officer of COP28, Adnan Ameen said: “Education is a critical driver to build the skills needed for the future climate economy. In this context, we are delighted to be working with Dubai Cares to bring the second edition of the RewirEd Summit to COP28. This will be a key opportunity to rally the solutions that can empower today’s learners and accelerate actions that will determine our planet’s future.”
Aimed at catalyzing a much-needed shift in the thinking and action around the climate and education nexus, the sessions will focus on a series of interconnected themes that are crucial for achieving education transformation goals for climate action.
The RewirEd Summit program will focus on four areas: Rewiring Lifelong Learning for Green Jobs and Green Economy; Transformative Policy and Innovative Financing at the Nexus of Education and Climate Action; Leveraging Technology and Connectivity to Rewire Education Systems for Climate Adaptation and Mitigation; and People and Knowledge at the Heart of Transformation for People and Planet.,
