Race to Zero

9-19 November 2020 

The Coronavirus pandemic has led to COP26 being postponed until November 2021. But as we have no time to lose High-Level Champions for Global Climate Action are right now convening the Race to Zero Dialogues. Find out more and how the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance is participating. 

 

Building a climate resilient and just future for all: Delivering action and ambition

Tuesday 17 November 18.00-20.30 (GMT)  

Find out more about the event and participants and register here.  

Join the Adrienne Arsht – Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, the Global Resilience Partnership and the Global Center on Adaptation together with the members of the Marrakech Partnership (MPGCA) Climate Resilience Network, for a discussion on delivering action to build a climate resilient and just future for all. Zakia Naznin from Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance partner Concern Worldwide will be sharing her thoughts and experiences in a panel on Opportunities for ambitious action. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought resilience to the fore. It has laid bare the vulnerability of our societies and economies and exposed the lack of risk planning in countries. During this event, speakers will focus on the need to carry out ambitious actions on building resilience and identify what can be done to set up a decade of action.

This high level event will bring together the outcomes of the Regional Resilience Dialogues and Race to Zero resilience-focused dialogues and highlight how to advance the action of non-state actors and initiatives to deliver outcomes at COP26 and beyond. The High Level Champions, Gonzalo Muñoz and Nigel Topping, will also use this event to share their developing plans for a Race for Resilience campaign as a sister to the Race to Zero campaign to deliver a decade of action.

This dialogue will build upon previous Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action roundtables held at COP23, COP24 and COP25 events, the Global Commission on Adaptation, and from the UN Climate Action Summit and the Call to Action on Adaptation and Resilience.

Objectives of the discussion:

  1. To bring together the outcomes of the Regional Resilience Dialogues and Race to Zero resilience focussed dialogues on the challenges and opportunities of advancing action.
  2. To highlight how to advance action of non-state actors and initiatives through campaigns on resilience to deliver ambitious outcomes at COP26 and beyond.
  3. To share ideas and build support for resilience campaign to be led by the Champions.

 

Financing a resilient future: how and why to close adaptation financing gaps

Thursday 19 November, 11:45-12:35 (GMT)

Find the Finance Day agenda and register here.

COVID-19 forced humanity to postpone the COP26 climate talks. But the pandemic has not diminished our ambition to tackle climate chaos. 

Around the globe, cities, towns, businesses, civil society and NGOs are acting to limit the impacts of harmful carbon emissions on humanity and the planet’s fragile ecosystems.

We look forward with optimism to next year’s climate talks in Glasgow, more so now that the US President-elect Biden has promised to re-join the Paris climate agreement. In the run up to the talks, the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance host a UNFCCC ‘Race to Zero’ panel discussion on Thursday 19th November as part of the dialogues Finance day . 

Join us to debate:

  • Current DRR and CCA financing trends
  • How to build resilience using locally accessible resources, capacity and finance 
  • How the private sector can help
  • How the international community must expand and scale up support for community resilience to hazards like floods

Participants include: 

  • Butch Bacani, Programme Leader, UN Environment Programme’s Principles for Sustainable Insurance Initiative as Moderator & Hard Talk Interviewer
  • Gonzalo Muñoz, UNFCCC Climate Champion, who will open and close the session

And panelists:

  • Xavier Castellanos, Under Secretary General, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
  • Alison Martin, CEO of Europe, Middle East, and Asia, Zurich Insurance Group
  • Alex Angulo, Interim Executive Director, Mercy Corps Europe 
  • Afsari Begum, Project Manager, Practical Action Bangladesh

Please join us to discuss the importance of climate finance in global efforts to help climate vulnerable communities.

 

Find out more about the Race to Zero Dialogues, the schedule for the events, and read the latest news here.