Decarbonization policies, climate innovation and finance, climate services to support transitions to low-carbon and climate resilient societies, the evaluation of the EU Adaptation Strategy. From 2 to 14 December 2018, the negotiations and side events with CMCC at COP24 in Katowice, Poland.

Join us in Katowice, Poland, at the UN Climate Conference COP24 and participate in discussing how we can tackle climate change and its impacts. The CMCC will be present with three side events where major insights of the projects INNOPATHS, CLARA, and COACCH will be presented:

3 December 2018
COP24 Side Event “Energy decarbonisation and coal phase-out: financial, technological and policy drivers”
Who: Elena Verdolini (SEME; speaker); Elisa Calliari (RAAS; moderator)
When: 3 December 2018, h: 16.30-18.00
Where: Katowice – EU Pavilion – Room Vienna – h: 16.30-18.00
CMCC researchers Elena Verdolini – EIEE – RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment and Elisa Calliari (RAAS – Risk Assessment and Adaptation Strategies) will attend this side event organized by Carbon Tracker Initiative (CTI), University College London (UCL) for INNOPATHS, German Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU), Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). CMCC researcher Elena Verdolini will in particular illustrate some major results of the project INNOPATHS while exploring how to design robust decarbonisation policies, and presenting policy portfolios in different country contexts, a policy evaluation tool, the phase-out of coal in European countries and trends in EU climate finance. Moreover, speakers will show the economic unviability of coal, providing key arguments to policymakers and investors willing to align with the Paris Agreement climate targets and supporting the phase-out of coal. An interactive portal will also show the cost and profitability of global coal-fired capacity and compare it against renewables. In the end, presenters will showcase how dialogue and exchange with European partners has helped climate pioneers to overcome challenges in their local context. The specific thematic focus will derive from projects in the Katowice region.

5 December 2018
COP24 Side Event “Climate innovations for low-carbon and climate-resilient transitions”
Who: Jaroslav Mysiak, CMCC RAAS Division Director and Project Coordinator of CLARA project
When: 5 December 2018, h: 16.00-18.00
Where: Katowice – EU Pavilion – Room Brussels
Jaroslav Mysiak, CMCC RAAS Division Director and Project Coordinator of CLARA project, is one of the organizers and speakers of this side events focused on climate innovation and climate services to support transitions to low-carbon and climate resilient societies while delivering on the pledges of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Tailor-made and users’ co-developed climate services provide better information on past, present and future climate variability and change, and improve public and private decisions making. Generation, diffusion and adaptation of innovative technologies and policy practices to local circumstances is a shared concern of public administrations and businesses. But the innovation processes and services need to be co-designed, building upon scientific knowledge and business intelligence, end-user needs and made accountable to local societal challenges and priorities.

8 December 2018
COP24 Side Event “The forest is burning: why? What are the answers?”
Who: Lucia Perugini, IAFES Division
When: 8 December 2018 h. 10:00 – 11:30
Where: Katowice – France Pavilion
The year 2018 will have set a sad record for hectares of burned forest, killing more than 200 people, including more than 60 at the recent “Camp Fire” in California. At the end of July 2018, 450 fires were reported in the European Union, an increase of almost 40%.
Why does the forest burn? How to measure the consequences? And above all, what prevention and control measures should be put in place? How can international cooperation be improved to curb this human and environmental disaster?
A panel of different countries and organizations gathered for this event will try to understand this phenomenon and to review existing practices at the regional and global level on the issue of forest fire protection. Among the speakers, CMCC researchers Lucia Perugini (IAFES Division).

13 December 2018
COP24 Side Event “#EU2050: Get ready for climate change: Today’s European adaptation policies and outlook towards 2050”
Who: Paul Watkiss – Stakeholder relations leader of COACCH project.
When: 13 December 2018, h: 18.30-20.00
Where: Katowice – EU Pavilion – Room Brussels
The EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change, adopted in April 2013, provides a framework and mechanisms to improve the preparedness of the EU for current and future impacts of climate change. It focuses on promoting Member State action, integrating adaptation into EU policies, and supporting better informed decision-making. The EU published a comprehensive evaluation of its Adaptation Strategy on 12 November 2018. The evaluation concludes that the Adaptation Strategy has satisfactorily promoted national and local adaptation action, provided a knowledge base for decision makers, or prepared EU policies and funding for ongoing climate impacts.
This event organized by the European Commission – DG Climate Action, will showcase the main findings of the evaluation and the conclusions that can be drawn from five years of operation of the Adaptation Strategy. It will also stimulate debate on the future of adaptation policy in the EU.
Among the speakers, Paul Watkiss – Stakeholder relations leader of COACCH project.

For more information, visit the official COP24 website and the EU Programme of Side Events at COP24.