Real economy leaders joined Heads of State on stage at COP26 yesterday to celebrate the centrality of business, finance, and civil society to deliver the promise of the Paris Agreement.

The COP26 World Leaders Summit Interludes — which covered mitigation, adaptation and resilience, finance and collaboration — saw leading voices come together to launch catalytic initiatives to accelerate the transition to a zero carbon world.

The Interludes are available to watch again on the UN High-Level Climate Champions YouTube channel and below.

Our chance to decide our future

UN High Level Champion for Climate Action, Nigel Topping, in conversation with leading voices of society highlighting the power of the ambition loop, outlining the perfect conditions for political leadership to halve emissions by 2030.

Speakers:

• Nigel Topping – UN High-Level Climate Champion for COP26
• Xiye Bastida – Youth Activist
• Eric Garcetti – Mayor of Los Angeles, Chair of C40 Cities

Finance & resilience in a changing climate

The intervention highlighted non state actor mobilisation to build resilience to the impacts of climate change, and stories of action that demonstrate NSA mobilisation from frontline community groups to international financial institutions.

Speakers:

• Saleem Huq – Scientist, resilience expert and frontline communities advocate, Bangladesh
• Kristalina Georgieva – Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
• David Malpass – President, World Bank Group

Financing a catalytic transition in SIDS

An interlude featuring SIDS presented new NSA initiatives to catalyse a net zero transition through new funding and capacity building efforts. It also featured efforts to accelerate adaptation across island states.

Speakers:

• Hyginus Leon – President, Caribbean Development Bank
• Brian Moynihan – CEO, Bank of America
• Selina Leem – Climate Warrior, Poet, Marshall Islands

Financing the transition in Africa

Presenting a major new finance initiative Africa Green Finance Coalition (AGFC), designed to accelerate green finance policy and regulatory reform policy across Africa and mobilise green investment capital at scale.

Speakers:

• Seyni Nafo – Co Chair Africa Green Finance Coalition and Spokesperson for the African Group of Negotiators (AGFC)
• Ukur Yattani – Cabinet Secretary Kenya Treasury representative of Co-Chair (AGFC)
• Ayaan Zeinab Adam – Senior Director and Chief Executive Officer, AFC Capital Partners

Nature’s Place in the Race

Launch of REGEN 10, an acceleration platform for existing coalitions scaling regenerative and resilient food systems to 50% of world production in a decade, with farmers from global north and south firmly at the centre of the transition as the primary agents of change. The platform has a key role in enhancing NDCs and resilience as well as accelerating emission reduction and removal from NSA.

Speakers:

• Paul Polman – FOLU Chair & Founder of Imagine
• Elizabeth Nsimadala – PAFO immediate Past President and Newly elected PAFO Board member incharge of women affairs, Re – elected President of Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF)
• Victoria Tauli-Corpuz – Executive Director of Tebtebba & Former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples (2014-2020)