techUK at COP diary: Money Monday
techUK will be at COP 28 from Monday to Thursday this week, bringing daily blogs of activities and announcements.
Today we landed after a comfortable, but tiring overnight flight to be greeted by 28-degree weather and a city that was never designed with walking in mind and is also choked with dangerously high air pollution. We landed into ‘finance day’ which means a lot of focus and events on the role of finance and how the financial system can catalyse climate action.
We’ve already had a big win for the loss and adaptation fund. Embattled COP 28 President (and leader of a global oil firm) Sultan Al Jaber said he had ‘filled the empty bank account’ which is a start to building the $100bn fund to aid countries that have suffered the most from the effects of climate change. The focus on adaptation is one we agree with as we prepare for our event tomorrow looking at how emerging and transformative tech can support resilience and adaptation.
Anyway, back to the money and there have been some good developments. The Presidency says it has unlocked $57bn in climate finance so far, with more to come. $200bn will be spent by the UAE bank.
We’ve also seen some very political comments. The Prime Minister of Barbados called for a 0.7% tax on financial services and a 5% windfall tax on oil and gas, which has the sympathetic ear of some NGOs and governments most affected by climate change. Countries (the UK very much included) are also keen to see private finance be mobilised as government coffers globally are emptying.
The City of London reception we attended had representatives from across finance, and we’re very keen to see as much as possible go towards innovation and digital tech. The start-up funding landscape has become a lot more challenging recently for ‘clean tech’ (or green tech, climate tech, or planet tech – please pick a name and stick with it!), and funders want much more stability. So any action that can increase liquidity going to innovation would be appreciated.
Finance Day also means chats on our favourite subject – ESG reporting, with events looking at the disquietingly fragmented world of disclosures. Countries are legislating more and more asking for slightly different versions of the same things and we (like many others) are keen to stress interoperability and harmonisation as compliance will become very hard and fragmentation will undermine the comparability and accountability of business climate impacts these disclosures are meant to enable.
- ICYMI: techUK members Sage and PWC worked with Strand Partners to put together a fantastic report on how SMEs can disclose and account for their emissions. Given the pressing need for more business action, this report shows how it can be automated, cheap/free, and reliable to decision-makers.
- Fun fact of the day: techUK will not be attending the ‘Blue Zone’ as techUK, as we are technically part of the ‘Emissions Trading Group’ delegation as they are UN accredited observers. So don’t be confused if you see either myself or Teo and wonder if we changed jobs, and many thanks to John and the ETG for facilitating this!
- Sighting of the day: We only arrived today so we’ll have to opt for seeing Gary Barlow at Heathrow Pret. Hopefully, John Kerry or Clare Coutinho may make the list tomorrow.
- What will tomorrow bring: We’ll be running our event on emerging tech for adaptation with our partner organisation Climate Action and we’ll also be at the Blue Zone and Sustainable Innovation Forum. We’re also looking forward to catching up with Climate Group colleagues and members.
Written by Craig Melson, Associate Director for Climate, Environment and Sustainability, techUK
Craig Melson
Craig Melson
Craig is Associate Director for Climate, Environment and Sustainability and leads on our work in these areas ranging from climate change, ESG disclosures and due diligence, through to circular economy, business and human rights, conflict minerals and post-Brexit regulation.
Prior to joining techUK he worked in public affairs and policy has an avid interest in new and emerging technologies. Craig has a degree in Ancient History from King’s College London and spends his time watching Watford FC and holding out hope for Half Life 3.
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Josh Turpin
Josh Turpin
Josh joined techUK as a Programme Manager for Telecoms and Net Zero in August 2024.
In this role, working jointly across the techUK Telecoms and Climate Programmes, Josh is responsible for leading on telecoms infrastructure deployment and uptake and supporting innovation opportunities, as well as looking at how the tech sector can be further utilised in the UK’s decarbonisation efforts.
Prior to joining techUK, Josh’s background was in public affairs and communications, working for organisations across a diverse portfolio of sectors including defence, telecoms and infrastructure; aiding clients through stakeholder engagement, crisis communications, media outreach as well as secretariat duties.
Outside of work, Josh has a keen interest in music, painting and sailing.
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Lucas Banach
Lucas Banach
Lucas Banach is Programme Assistant at techUK, he works on a range of programmes including Data Centres; Climate, Environment & Sustainability; Market Access and Smart Infrastructure and Systems.
Before that Lucas who joined in 2008, held various roles in our organisation, which included his role as Office Executive, Groups and Concept Viability Administrator, and most recently he worked as Programme Executive for Public Sector. He has a postgraduate degree in International Relations from the Andrzej Frycz-Modrzewski Cracow University.
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