UK Pre-Summit Event Positions 2021 P4G Seoul Summit as Stepping Stone to COP26

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Global collaboration and bold, innovative solutions are the way forward to achieve a net zero future. At a recent pre-event in the United Kingdom for the 2021 P4G Seoul Summit, ambassadors and COP26 (UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties) climate leaders acknowledged the value of P4G’s approach to delivering impact and the timeliness of the P4G Summit in raising countries’ climate ambitions ahead of COP26 in Glasgow. The April 19 event was co-hosted by the Embassy of the Republic of South Korea and the Embassy of Denmark in the United Kingdom. John Murton, UK COP26 Special Envoy, moderated the event.

In her opening remarks, Enna Park, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the UK urged more countries to pledge net zero commitments like Korea’s announcement of achieving net zero by 2050. She highlighted the P4G Summit’s role as a global moment to scale practical and innovative solutions for a green transition. Her Danish counterpart Lars Thuesen, Ambassador of Denmark to the UK, shared that the first P4G Summit in Copenhagen marked the journey to a sustainable future, and the upcoming one will have a similar focus on action and concrete solutions.

Rt Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan, MP, UK International Champion on Adaptation and Resilience for COP26 detailed the UK’s approach to green growth with its aims to quadruple offshore wind and phase out new petrol and diesel to electric vehicles by 2030. She positioned the 2021 P4G Seoul Summit as an important steppingstone on the road to COP26 and called out four global progress areas including reducing emissions; strengthening adaptation; mobilizing private and public finance; and enhancing international collaboration.

Yeon-chul Yoo, Ambassador for Climate Change, Republic of Korea, reiterated previous speakers remarks on the need for multilateral efforts and called out P4G as the line between “existing government action and the new action required.” He positioned the Summit as an opportunity to build on future ideas and for countries to set ambitious goals. Tomas Anker Christensen, Climate Ambassador, Denmark spoke about how the P4G Summit could lay the foundation for Asia to lead a green transition and P4G’s role in incubating the solutions that can deliver this change.

Ian de Cruz, Global Director, P4G emphasized the value of P4G’s investing in impact approach and shared examples of tangible solutions P4G is scaling in developing countries to meet global climate action and sustainable development targets. Sir Roger Gifford, Chair of the Green Finance Institute remarked that this approach is exactly the solution needed.

Gail Klintworth, Chair of Savo Project Developers highlighted P4G’s value in accelerating the P4G partnership SSEZ/Sustainable Industrial Clusters, which is trying to green industrial zones and drive US $1 billion in resilient infrastructure into these clusters. She emphasized the potential impact, with one zone able to create 10,000 local jobs and urged participants to broaden their approach from large top-down government projects to global funds focused on just transitions. Lisa Ashford, CEO, Ethex, explained the approach behind P4G partnership Energise Africa and bringing people powered finance through crowdfunding to accelerate energy access. She mentioned the outsize impact Energise Africa had already achieved by supporting more than 7,000 micro, small and medium enterprises and the invaluable acceleration of P4G to grow the partnership in Kenya.

Bringing in the private sector and P4G National Platform perspective was Nicholas Nesbitt, Chairman, Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) and P4G Kenya National Platform Co-Chair. He shared how P4G advances Kenya’s green growth agenda by accelerating partnerships on the ground that align with Kenya’s social and economic agenda. He spoke about how KEPSA’s mobilization of the private sector through partnerships like Energise Africa and SSEZ/SIC provides engines of growth for the country.  Several additional P4G partnerships participated at the meeting including the Halving Food Loss and Waste by Leveraging Economic Systems (FLAWLESS), Africa GreenCo, and GeoFutures GreenInvest.

P4G’s contributions to the Race to Zero through its e-mobility solutions were highlighted by Ramiro Fernandez, Senior Advisor to the COP Chile Climate Champion. He welcomed the P4G Summit as a stepping stone to COP26 and the need for innovative partnerships to drive change. He also stressed how P4G had supported the set-up of a green hydrogen strategy for the Chilean Ministry of Energy and Mining.

In his closing remarks, John Murton aptly said, there is a no trade-off between pursuing projects that tackle climate change and help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. He spoke about the exciting opportunity for countries to raise their ambitions and urged all participants to collaborate toward a successful P4G Summit.