Are you interested in the role of EO in the finance downstream market sector?
Don’t miss the opportunity to learn about it by attending the upcoming Living Planet Symposium in Bonn, next 23 -27 May – registration is now open.
Here’s a selection of scientific sessions and agora discussions you may want not to miss. You will listen and talk to a number of distinguished speakers, delving into interesting topics.
MON 23 | Space for climate and disaster risk finance – a partnership between ESA and The World Bank on financial resilience OPEN FORUM – 15:15-16:40 – Agora EUROPA/ESA The current Covid crisis highlights how supply chains are increasingly globalizing and becoming more complex. At the same time, climate change threatens our societies and economies. Satellite and big data are very powerful means to provide additional risk information to this picture, complementing or replacing traditional risk indicators, with new, global coverage, informing on severity and extent of climate impacts and disaster shocks. This is particularly relevant to data-poor environment and to World Bank client countries, where improving risk understanding is key to strengthening financial resilience of economies and populations to climate, crisis and disaster risks around the globe. Addressing the need for new insights into broader range of climate and disaster risks, ESA’s Center for Earth Observation ESA/ESRIN and the World Bank Crisis & Disaster Risk Finance team set up in 2019 a specific technical assistance activity which leverages innovative application of satellite data at global, country, and project levels to create an enabling environment for improved risk financing and risk management. This event will present the joint partnership, the state-of-play, current pilots and most promising applications. From improved drought risk response, to financial assets mapping, economic activity monitoring and climate and complex risk modelling, success stories, challenges and opportunities will be discussed through concrete use cases and knowledge sharing. Some of the most promising applications, such as systemic risk modelling or convergence of evidence methods for drought monitoring, will be presented in more detail to address replicability and at-scale implementation objectives. Chairs: Antoine Bavandi (The World Bank), Dr. Benjamin Koetz (ESA) When FinTech meets Nature - linking green assets with innovation in financial and digital ecosystems SCIENTIFIC SESSION – 15:40-17:15 – Room 14 (H2-O2) The introduction of EC-regulated Taxonomy on Sustainable Finance (EU Delegated Act on EU Taxonomy Regulation adopted in June 2020) will drive the definition of the investments that can be considered environmentally sustainable, and in line with European Green Deal. It will also open up new opportunities for the technological innovation regarding green assets financing, as well as elaboration of new financial instruments that will intrinsically rely on the use of data and ICT systems for monitoring, and reporting of compliance. On this wave, a growing number of private (and public) sector entities looks for opportunities to respond to the market that is interested in solutions that allow for better, faster and more reliable way to channel financial resources to “green projects”. They are aiming to disrupt markets that currently incentivise environmental degradation by introducing a new class of financial assets that are linked to ecological performance of investments, climate mitigation strategies, carbon credits generation or green/blue infrastructures that perform certain ecosystem services. These innovative concepts are spearheaded by emerging climate and eco-finance industry and were developed on the cross point of FinTech, DeFi (decentralised finance), and sustainable finance whose objective is to provide investment opportunities, financial liquidity and risk management strategies to attract new participants to green and digital finance. Chairs: Anna Burzykowska (ESA), Marianne Haahr (Green Digital Finance Alliance), Prof. Stephen Briggs (Reading & Cambridge Univs. ) |
TUE 24 | Rapid EO Innovation: from Covid-19 to the Green Future SCIENTIFIC SESSION – 8:30-10:05 – Room 11 (Addis Abeba) The Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action recently steps up calls for green growth investments as part of a global shift toward an inclusive and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite its persistence, governments around the world are gradually transitioning from immediate relief to economic recovery and there is an increasing global momentum for action on climate change in the context of the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Around the world the primary focus is still on COVID-19, policymakers are now looking at how to bring the global economy back to life- with sustainability at its heart. An example is the EU’s ambitious Green Deal setting up a bold vision for climate action, recognising the crucial link between decarbonisation, climate resilience, natural capital, and social inclusion, that has been doubled rather than being scaled back. Despite the lessons of the pandemic that we can change and despite commitments that have been made, emissions have already bounced back to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2020. Initiatives aiming to help countries build a low-carbon, climate-resilient recovery from COVID-19 are now starting to emerge, they stress out the importance to generate new analytical work, including geospatial data to assess the impact of COVID-19 on e.g. carbon emissions. Chairs: Yves-Louis Desnos (ESA), Elisabeth Hamdouch (European Commission DG DEFIS) |
WED 25 | Climate adaptation from space: How can earth observation technologies advance sustainable and inclusive adaptation? DEEP DIVE – 14:35-15:35 – Agora SAPIENS Adaptation is a key aspect of climate action. Drastic variations of weather patterns, as well as more frequent and intense extreme weather events, are affecting particularly the poorest regions of the world. Human and financial losses related to climate change are rapidly increasing. In response, initiatives to address climate-induced damages are on the rise. Technical, financial, and political solutions look promising. However, current efforts tend to address adaptation as a finite goal, with little done to consider its iterative nature or long-term sustainability. So, what do we need from earth observation technologies to advance adaptation? How can we make state-of-the-art tools available for those most in need? This session will bring together high-level representatives of different stakeholder groups to discuss and understand the challenges of making adaptation more sustainable and inclusive, and the role of space technologies to reach this goal. In Davos style, the session will be divided into three blocks, with dynamic discussions around the following key questions:
Chair: Alvaro Rojas-Ferreira (United Nations University) |
THU 26 | Satellite EO for Disaster Risk Transfer & Insurance SCIENTIFIC SESSION – 8:30-10:05 – Room 11 (Addis Abeba) The EO for Disaster Risk Transfer session is looking at embedding observations in decision making solutions for Ministries of Finance in developing countries and the insurance sector. Stakeholders, such as IFIs, and users have defined needs and integrating satellite EO and catastrophe modelling can help transfer risks with financial instruments and the Sentinel missions of the Copernicus programme have a potential to fully exploited. The session is addressing challenges and opportunities for the EO sector. Chairs: Antoine Bavandi (The World Bank), Philippe Bally (ESA) New Actors for Copernicus TALKING BUSINESS – 15:15-16:15 – Agora EUROPA Copernicus is already operational. It is therefore important to ensure the continuity of the infrastructure and services already in place, whilst adapting to the changing user needs, market environment, particularly the emergence of private actors in space and socio-political developments for which a rapid response is needed. That requires an evolution of the functional structure of Copernicus to better reflect the shift from the first stage of operational services to the provision of advanced and more targeted services to new user communities and the fostering of added-value downstream markets. (Recital #76 of the Space Regulation). This roundtable will address the added value of “New Space” based on technology, services and business model innovation that the European private sector and entrepreneurs may introduce and the integration of the emerging developments with the existing and foreseen assets. In particular, the modality to develop a competitive private space industry in Europe and how to obtain the continuity and expansion of the EO data and information with increased performances at a lower cost will be discussed. Also, the expected role of the finance industry and of the public sector to stimulate this emerging sector will be debated. Chair: Antonio Ciccolella (ESA) |