Conference on Climate and Development - The Way forward for Multistakeholder Engagement

Efforts in relation to climate change and development must be thought of together in order to achieve the Paris Agreement's temperature targets and the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) everywhere in the world, and there is a need for a special focus on the most exposed regions.

Today, climate and development are often treated in silos separately, and not as an integrated effort. There is therefore a need to create broad collaborations among stakeholders to integrate efforts. The question is how it can happen.

That was the theme of a conference that CONCITO hosted on 31 May together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Danish Church Aid (DCA). 75 Danish participants from public authorities, philanthropic organizations, civil society and the private sector took part. The conclusions from the conference have now been compiled into ten recommendations for integrated climate and development efforts.

All over the world, climate change threatens to destroy progress in sustainable development. There is a particular challenge in vulnerable areas. It is therefore important to develop strategies that both reduce emissions, increase resilience against, for example, drought or floods and prioritize sustainable development goals. It requires national support and investment both at home and abroad.

Discussions at the conference between various actors showed how important it is to work together to get the most out of climate and development efforts. It is necessary to have enough time and resources to create and implement joint projects. Flexible financing is also important, and here philanthropic organizations can play a central role in creating new solutions. There must be clear framework conditions to involve private companies and attract their investments, and it is important to have strong local roots, a clear political framework and transparency to achieve the best results.

The conference reached agreement on a general call for increased cooperation to deal with the challenges that the link between climate change and sustainable development entails. The discussions were summarized for Dan Jørgensen, minister for development cooperation and global climate policy, as input for a new strategy for Danish development cooperation.

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