Climate change

This workshop is the second in a series of OECD workshops that aim to inform and feed into the OECD project on losses and damages.

Losses and damages from climate change

The objective of this OECD project is to prepare a report that will explore climate impact projections as well as different types and levels of relevant uncertainties and what they mean for approaches to managing such impacts. On that basis, it will provide an overview of existing and emerging approaches and the key scientific and socio-economic issues relevant to limiting and managing the risks of losses and damages from climate change in the context of uncertainty. The role of policy, finance and technology will be highlighted. This will be complemented by a discussion on how these different approaches affect incentives for action at national, regional and international levels. The analysis will be global in scale but throughout the circumstances of different geographic areas or groupings will be highlighted with a particular focus on Least Developed Countries and Small Islands Developing States. This will result in a report that will be launched around the time of COP26.  

Workshop on managing the risks of losses and damages from climate change

This second workshop will facilitate a discussion on approaches to limit and manage the risk of losses and damages from climate change, focusing on the role of policy and finance. The workshop will explore how different approaches can inform risk management in the context of deep uncertainty to build resilience and how they affect incentives for action.

• What role can policy and finance play in limiting exposures to, and reducing the vulnerability to losses and damages from climate change?
• What are important policy and finance levers for action currently overlooked, underexplored or not prioritised?
• What are some innovative approaches for addressing in policy and finance decisions the uncertainties inherent in climate change projections?
• What are key insights and challenges for different countries and regions in mobilising finance and putting policy levers into action?
• How can national approaches to policy and finance reflect potentially large-scale and irreversible changes?

The workshop will be held as a virtual event (using Zoom), under the Chatham House rule. The key outcomes of the discussion will be summarised in a short note following the workshop (with no attribution).

Agenda

Opening remarks

• Rodolfo Lacy, Director of Environment Directorate, OECD
  
  

Keynote address

• Alice Hill, David M. Rubenstein senior fellow for energy and the environment at the Council on Foreign Relations
  
  

Session 1:  The role of policy in reducing and managing the risks of losses and damages from climate change

 Presenters

• Iain White, Associate Dean (Research), Division of Arts, Law, Psychology and Social Science, University of Waikato
• Rosalind Cornforth, Director, Walker Institute, Reading University
• Abinash Mohanty, Programme Lead, Risks and Adaptation Team, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW)
  
  

Discussants

• Koko Warner, Manager of the Vulnerability subdivision at UNFCCC
• Roger Pulwarty, Senior Scientist in the NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory at the NOAA Office of Oceans and Atmospheric Research
  
  

Session 2: The role of finance in reducing and managing the risks of losses and damages from climate change

Presenters

• Ekhosuehi Iyahen, Secretary-General, Insurance Development Forum
• Maarten van Aalst, Director, International Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre
• Lizra Fabien, Executive Director, Dominica Association of Industry and Commerce and former Chairperson, Caribbean Chamber of Commerce
  
  

Discussants

• Olivier Mahul, Practice Manager and Global Lead, Crisis & Disaster Risk Finance, World Bank
• Laura Schäfer, Senior Advisor, Climate Risk Management, Germanwatch