The Norwegian Nobel Institute hosted a High-Level Climate Congress on Day 2 of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize Forum Oslo.
- Date: 12 December 2018
- Venue: Norwegian Nobel Institute, Oslo
SOLVING THE CLIMATE CRISIS IN TIME
From Climate Destabilization to Climate Security
10:30 – 10:45: Welcome by Henrik Syse, Member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee
The three dialogues will be moderated by Joseph Robertson, Global Strategy Director of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby.
10:45 – 12:15: Climate Peace and Security — Climate Change as a Threat Multiplier
Climate change is a “threat multiplier” and an accelerant for armed conflict, putting the stability of nation states at risk and undermining regional and international peace and security in fundamental ways. In October 2007 the Nobel Peace Prize Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to the IPCC and Al Gore “seeking to contribute to a sharper focus on the processes and decisions that appear to be necessary to protect the world’s future climate, and thereby to reduce the threat to the security of mankind.” Consequences of climate disruption, such as drought, can lead to large and small scale armed conflicts over natural resources, such as water and access or ability to farm arable land. Climate disruption also creates new opportunities for networks of human and arms traffickers. Without serious and rapid global mobilization on the part of a multiplicity of actors (government leaders, business leaders, and civil society, including youth) to address, slow and reverse human-induced climate disruption, many of the drivers of conflict are likely to worsen in significant ways.
- Gary Lewis: Director, Policy and Programme Division UN Environment (Opening remarks)
- Tuija Talvitie: Executive Director, Crisis Management Initiative
- Alexander Verbeek: Dutch Diplomat & Founder of the Planetary Security Initiative
1:00 – 2:30: Climate-Smart Energy & Climate Finance — How can Decentralized Clean Energy Systems Secure the Future?
The IPCC, in their recent Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C makes the case that “Pathways limiting warming require rapid and far reaching transitions in energy” and that “future climate-related risks can be reduced by the upscaling and acceleration of far-reaching, multi-level and cross-sectoral climate mitigation and by both incremental and transformational adaptation”. Solving the climate crisis in time requires simultaneous, collaborative action from national governments, and also from business, industry, investors, and communities, at all levels.
- Thina Saltvedt: Director of the Sustainable Finance Division, Nordea Bank (Opening Remarks)
- Bjørn Haugland: Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer in DNV GL
- Shardul Agawala: Head of the Environment and Economy Integration Division at the OECD Environment Directorate
- Eliot Whittington: Director of the Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group
3:00 – 4:30: People, Economies & Ecosystems — What can cities do to deliver 40% of the Paris Targets?
The role of cities in achieving the high ambition of the Paris Agreement is central to securing our future against unmanageable climate destabilization. Nation-states alone cannot engineer, fund, mobilize, and accelerate all needed climate action. World-leading efforts like those of Oslo, New York City and UN Habitat stand as clear examples of how we can rapidly shift to a better standard of climate-related urban planning. The Forum and its outcomes will help to promote these examples, and related insights and innovations, as direct guidance for city leaders around the world.
- Dan Zarrilli: New York City’s Chief Climate Policy Advisor and the Director of OneNYC, New York City Office of the Mayor (Opening Remarks)
- Victor Kisob: UN Assistant Secretary-General & Deputy Executive Director United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT)
- Heidi Sørensen: Director of the Climate Agency, City of Oslo
- Jukka Uosukainen: Director of the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN), UN Environment
4:30 – 4:45: Closing Remarks by Olav Kjørven, Chief Strategic Officer, EAT Foundation
5:30-7:30: Cocktail Reception — Grand Hotel Oslo, Palmen Restaurant, Karl Johans gate 31, Oslo — Welcome by Olav Njølstad, Secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee
International Center for Dialogue and Peacebuilding 