The COP27 United Nations climate change summit - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment

The 27th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, known as COP27, took place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt from 6 to 18 November 2022.

It was the sixth United Nations climate change summit to take place since the landmark Paris Agreement emerged at the end of COP21 on 12 December 2015.

The Grantham Research Institute took part in a range of activities in the lead up to and during COP27, including academic research, policy analysis and events. This page provides details of these activities and background information about COP27.

Events during COP27
Post COP27 event
Events held in the lead up to COP27
News and commentaries
Publications
Explainers
Our team at COP27

Events during COP27

Unless otherwise stated, the times listed for events will be local time (EET).

Week 1 of COP27 (date TBC)

Launch of the Adaptation Gap Report 2022
UNEP’s flagship report outlines global progress on adaptation planning, finance and implementation. GRI has been a main contributor to the report since 2018. Timo Leiter will be participating in this event. Read more here.

Saturday 5 November

Workshop on Communicating and reporting on adaptation priorities
Venue: Room 16
This workshop discusses how countries can best communicate information about adaptation and how adaptation reporting can inform domestic policy making and provide inputs to global assessments of adaptation progress. Timo Leiter will be participating in this event.

The agenda and summary note are available here

Sunday 6 November

12:00-13:00: Second meeting of the Technical Dialogue (TD1.2) of the first Global Stocktake – opening plenary
Nick Robins will be attending this event. Further details can be found here

Monday 7 November

11:00-13:00: Global Stocktake Roundtable 3 (3.1)
Finance: Aligning financial flows and meeting needs for system-wide transitions to net zero emissions and transformative climate resilient development
Nick Robins will be speaking at this event. Further details can be found here

15:00-19:00: Global Stocktake World Cafe
Nick Robins will be attending this event. Further details can be found here

Tuesday 8 November

14:45-15:30: Time to act: implementing trade-related contributions to the global response to climate change
Launch of World Trade Report on Climate Change by WTO Director-General Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Hosted by the World Trade Organisation

Danae Kyriakopoulou is a contributing author to the report and will be attending the event. Further details can be found here.

Wednesday 9 November

10:00-11:00: HSBC/Accenture Finance Day event
Venue: Green Zone Hall A
Nick Robins will be speaking at this event.

10:30-12:00: Financial institutions’ engagement to accelerate financing for net zero through a just and orderly transition – lessons and insights from Asia
Venue: Japan Pavillion
Fireside chat between Masamichi Kono (Senior Advisor, MUFG Bank and Trustee, IFRS Foundation) and Danae Kyriakopoulou (Distinguished Policy Fellow, Grantham Research Institute), followed by a Panel Discussion. Hosted by MUFG Bank

Further details can be found here.

11:00-12:30: Global Alliance of Universities on Climate x – High-level event
Venue: China Pavilion, Blue Zone
The ‘Climate x’ Campaign is initiated by GAUC with the purpose of raising public awareness of synergy between climate change and other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and calling for innovative solutions towards the net-zero future.
Danae Kyriakopoulou will be speaking at this event and Bob Ward will be moderating one of the sessions.
Further details on this event can be found here

Global Stocktake Roundtable 1.1 Mitigation and Global Stocktake Roundtable 2.1 Adaptation.
Nick Robins will be attending these events

14:00-16:00: Scaling up private sector sustainable financing
Venue: ICC Pavilion in the Blue Zone
Panel Discussion with Danae Kyriakopoulou (Distinguished Policy Fellow, LSE GRI), Alexi Chan (Head of Global Banking Sustainability, HSBC), Abyd Karmali OBE (Climate Finance Executive, Bank of America), Daniel Hanna (Global Head of Sustainable Finance for the Corporate & Investment Bank, Barclays), and Frank Scheidig (Global Head of Senior Executive Banking, DZ BANK).
Hosted by the International Chamber of Commerce.

17:00-19:00: Global Stocktake Exchange
Nick Robins will be attending this event.

Thursday 10 November

10:00-14:00: Global Stocktake Roundtable 1.2 Mitigationand Global Stocktake Roundtable 2.2 Adaptation
Nick Robins will be attending these events.

10:00-11:15: Towards financing a just transition to low-carbon economies. A new just transition finance tool for banks and investors
Joint event with the International Labour Organization
Brendan Curran and Nick Robins will be speaking at this event.
Further details can be found here

15:00-17:00: Technical Dialogue 1.2 – Roundtable 3 Means of Implementation and Support
Session on Finance: Aligning financial flows and meeting needs for system-wide transitions to net zero emissions and transformative climate resilient development
Nick Robins will be speaking at this event. Further details can be found here

17:00-19:00: Global Stocktake Exchange
Nick Robins will be attending this event.

18:30-20:00: Utilising expertise of the youth to bridge the science-policy divide and improve access to finance
Venue: Room Osiris (Blue Zone)
Panel discussion chaired by Danae Kyriakopoulou (Distinguished Policy Fellow, Grantham Research Institute) with Hon. Cedrick Frolick (South Africa), Hon. Waven William (Seychelles), Andrea Clayton (ACU), Sarabeth Brockley (NASDAQ) and Kirils Holstovs (WFEO).

Hosted by World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO) Young Engineers / Future Leaders’ Working Group on SDG13; International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC); Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA); Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU); Commonwealth Futures Climate Research Cohort; Moravian University; Global Council for Science and Environment (GSCE); Research and Independent Non-Governmental Organizations (RINGO) and International Water Association (IWA).

Further details and a livestream link can be found here.

Friday 11 November

08:30-09:30: HP2 Panel discussion: The Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action
Venue: Rwandan pavilion
The objective of the meeting is to discuss the role of in driving climate action and outline a vision for the central role of Finance Ministries in securing a sustainable, inclusive, resilient future – and a framework for achieving that vision. Nick Godfrey will be moderating this event.
Further details on this event can be found here

12:00-14:00: Global Stocktake Closing Plenary
Nick Robins will be attending this event.

Climate Law and Governance Day 2022
Climate Law and Governance Day (CLGD) 2022 convenes a community of leading law faculties and law and governance institutes, international organization counsel, government authorities, law associations, judges, professionals and others responsible for inspiring, innovating and building law, policy and governance capacity. CLGD 2022 provides an important opportunity to share ideas, debate trends and advances, and build legal momentum for climate action.

13:20-14:30 (Egyptian time, GMT-2): Panel Discussion: Learning from Public Engagement Innovations through Climate Citizen Assemblies (Marrakech Seminar, online)
Hosted by the Knowledge Network on Citizens Assemblies (KNOCA) and the Grantham Research Institute, LSE.
What are the lessons learnt from the recent national and global citizens assemblies? How can climate assemblies help advance climate action? How can assemblies have more impact on politics and public support for climate policies?

Opening remarks and chair: Dr Alina Averchenkova (KNOCA Founding Member and Distinguished Policy Fellow, Grantham Research Institute, LSE).

Video keynote address: Laurence Tubiana (Chief Executive Officer, European Climate Foundation)

Speakers/Discussants:
Claire Mellier (Global Assembly Co-Founder and Knowledge Circle Lead, Iswe Foundation)
Teele Pehk (Democracy Artist, Green Tiger Foundation, Estonia)
Guillaume Casse (Global Assembly Member 2021, Dem. Republic of Congo)
Dr. Diarmuid Torney (Associate Professor, Dublin City University)
Susie Townend (Head of Secretariat of Scotland’s Climate Assembly 2020-2021, Government of Scotland).

You can view the full programme of events for Climate Law and Governance Day and sign up for this online event here

16:00-17:30. Just Transition as a mechanism to accelerate climate action
Venue: Spanish Pavilion
Nick Robins will be attending this event.

Saturday 12 November

18:30-20:00: High-Level Roundtable on Just Transitions: Business, Human Rights, and Climate Action
Venue: Blue Zone
Nick Robins will be attending this event.

Sunday 13 November

International Trade Union Confederation event
Details to be confirmed. Nick Robins will be attending this event.

16:00-18:00 Climate Finance event.
Details to be confirmed. Nick Robins will be speaking at this event.

Monday 14 November

11:00-12:30: Asian Development Bank Just Transition Support Platform
Venue: MDB Pavilion
Nick Robins will be speaking at this event.

13:00-14:00: Leaders Roundtable on Just Transition
Co-hosted by the Council for Inclusive Capitalism, WBCSD and We Mean Business Coalition in the Blue Zone/Business Pavilion. This high-level roundtable discussion on just transition with companies, investors, and policymakers will bring all stakeholders together to discuss challenges and solutions to catalyse collective action across ecosystems and value chains. Nick Robins will be attending this event.

15:00-16:00: Accelerating a Just Transition in Food and Energy Systems
Co-hosted by the Council for Inclusive Capitalism, World Business Council For Sustainable Development and PwC in the Blue Zone/Business Pavilion. This panel will be a focused discussion on company adoption of just transition actions across value chains of the food and energy systems, sharing out sector learnings, case studies and commitments with the objective of engaging greater industry participation. Panel discussion, with active audience engagement.

16:00-17:15: We Mean Business Coalition (WMBC) Business & Just Transition Taskforce, co-led by BSR and The B Team and supported by the WMB Secretariat.
Venue: WMBC Business Pavilion Boardroom in the Blue Zone.
Nick Robins will be attending this event.

17:00-21:00: Energy Reception
Venue: Glasgow Breakthrough Room of the Climate Action Innovation Zone.
Nick Robins will be attending this event.

Tuesday 15 November

09:30-10:30: Carbon Tracker event
Venue: South Africa Pavilion
Nick Robins will be attending this event.

12:00-13:00: Multilateral development banks (MDBs) and financing a Just Transition
Co-hosted by the Council for Inclusive Capitalism, WBA and Ceres / CA100+ in the Innovation Center, this session will bring together MDBs and select investors and companies to strategize and develop collaborative approaches to financing a Just Transition. The event would leverage the Just Energy Transition Framework for Company Action and the WBA and CA100+ just transition methodology to establish a shared understanding among key stakeholders on what counts as Just Transition, with the goal of facilitating more efficient, coordinated, and scalable systems for financing and investment. Nick Robins will be attending this event.

Wednesday 16 November

08:45-10:00: What does accountability for Financial institutions on providing the needed Climate finance look like?
Venue: WBA/We Mean Business Pavilion
Nick Robins will be speaking at this event.

12:00-14:00: Scottish Just Transition Commission
Nick Robins will be speaking at this event.

16:00-17:30: Mobilizing climate finance for adaptation and biodiversity conservation
Namibia Pavilion, COP27
Timo Leiter will be participating in this event.

Thursday 17 November

10:00-11:30: Climate governance towards Net Zero and resilience: strengthening cooperation between Latin America and Spain in the current context
Venue: Spain Pavilion at COP 27

This event seeks to analyse: 1) the elements of Net-Zero compatible climate legislation 2) the acceptance of said legislation by stakeholders in the current context 3) ways to foster distributed climate leadership and cooperation across the EU and LAC that together amount to just under 20% of global emissions.

Moderator – Dr. Lara Lázaro Touza. Senior Analyst and Lecturer. Real Instituto Elcano and Centro de Enseñanza Superior Cardenal Cisneros (ads. Universidad Complutense de Madrid)

Keynote speech – Dr. Alina Averchenkova. Distinguished Policy Fellow. Lead, Governance and Legislation. Grantham Research Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

Panelist 1 – Dr. Ines Dombrowsky. Head of Programme, Environmental Governance. German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Panelist 2- Dr. Sandra Guzmán Luna. CEO and founder. Climate Finance Group for Latin America and the Caribbean (CFGLAC)
Panelist 3.- Ms. Flávia Bellaguarda. Manager. Institutional Relations. Centro Brasil no Clima Panelist 4.- Dr. Gonzalo Sáenz de Miera. President. Spanish Green Growth Group
Panelist 5.–Mr. David Redoli Morchón. Institutional Relations Coordinator. Solaria Closing remarks.- Representative from the Spanish Climate Change Office/MITECO (tbc)

A live stream of this event is available here

10:00-11:30: After COP27: where next for net zero and resilience through just transitions?
Joint event with the International Labour Organization
Nick Robins will be speaking at this event
Further details on this event can be found here.

11:00-12:30: Designing Food Systems and Health Policies for a Changing Climate
Venue: Bangladesh Pavilion

The Deputy Minister for Environment, Forest, and Climate Change of Bangladesh (Ms. Habibun Nahar, MP) will be the chief guest at this event which will also include senior representatives from Burkina Faso and The Food and Agriculture Organization Regional Office for Near East and North Africa.

Elizabeth Robinson and Shouro Dasgupta will be taking part in this event.

16.30-18:00: Governance and citizen: Citizens’ Climate Assembly.
Spain Pavilion at COP 27.
Speaker: Dr. Alina Averchenkova (Grantham Research Institute, LSE and KNOCA).
You can follow a live stream of this event here

18:30-20:00: Designing governance systems to enable effective implementation of the Paris agreement
UNFCCC side event,
Venue: Akhenaten Room and online
Speakers: Dr. Alina Averchenkova (Grantham Research Institute, LSE); Dr. Anirudh Sridhar (Centre for Policy Research, India); Andrew Gilder (Climate Legal, South Africa); Rocio Garcia Naranjo (Decarboost, Peru); Dr. Rachel Cleetus, Union of Concerned Scientists, USA; Lloyd Mazivarimwe, Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Zimbabwe.

Further details for this event can be found here
You can follow a live stream of the event here

Taking stock of COP27 and looking ahead

24 November 2022, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Online (via Zoom)
This event, held in the week after the United Nations climate change summit in Egypt, considered the outcomes of the COP27 as well as the critical next steps that need to be taken.

Events held in the lead up to COP27

28 September 2022

High-Level Cairo Policy Conference on health and climate change
This event aimed to raise the awareness of Egyptian decision-makers advancing the role of health in international climate negotiations ahead of COP27. At the event Professor Elizabeth Robinson presented the joint Egypt-UK policy briefing on health and climate change to Egyptian Ministers, policymakers and COP27 officials. Elizabeth is the UK lead author of the paper which will be officially launched on 10 November 2022, Science Day at COP27.

The event was organised by the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology Egypt (ARST) and British Council Egypt, in collaboration with the UK Universities Climate Network.

For background information read our ‘How does climate change impact health?‘ explainer

17-18 October 2022,

Workshop on Adaptation Methodologies, indicators, data and metrics, monitoring and evaluation
Cairo

This workshop aims at informing the debate on how to review progress towards the global goal on adaptation. Timo Leiter will be presenting on day 2 and facilitating a breakout group on day 1.
– Concept Note and Agenda

Climate Change Policy for Developing Countries, in conversation with Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia – video

News and commentaries

Taking the Heat Out of COP27

The world’s two biggest emitters are coming together on climate — what can we expect from China-US talks?

Comments by Nicholas Stern and Bob Ward on the final outcome of the COP27 UN climate change summit in Egypt

A clean economy is the 21st century’s real growth story – India is central to this

COP27: How China and Africa fit in debate over ‘loss and damage’ fund

One ton of CO2 causes 140 US dollars of climate damage: Who pays for the consequences of climate change? (in German)

Response to draft cover decision from COP27

Climate change, food consumption and child health in Egypt: how can outcomes be improved?

Statement on India’s Long-Term Low-Carbon Development Strategy

The $468 trillion climate question: how the financial system is starting to shift

Why adapting to climate change is becoming more urgent (Economist podcast featuring Adeline Stuart-Watt)

Video for COP27 Forest and Climate Leaders Summit featuring Nick Robins

Daunting challenges for UN climate conference | The Real Story (BBC World Service)
Radio broadcast panel discussion featuring Nick Robins

Transitioning to net zero in the Middle East and North Africa: three focus points

What will it take to deliver substantive progress on Loss and Damage at COP27?

Statement in response to appointment of Simon Stiell as the new Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Publications

Just Transition Finance Tool for banking and investing activities

Finance for climate action: scaling up investment for climate and development

Addressing Climate Change Impacts on Health (report produced by the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology in Egypt and featuring contributions from Elizabeth Robinson and Lei (Alice) Bian.

Collaborating and delivering on climate action through a Climate Club: An independent report to the G7

Just Nature: How finance can support a just transition at the interface of action on climate and biodiversity