COP27 Event Examines the Role of Private Sector in Climate Adaptation

On 10 November 2022, UNU-IAS contributed to an event at the Sharm el-Sheikh Climate Change Conference (COP27) discussing the role of the private sector in realising the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) and how Japanese companies can contribute to achieving a climate-resilient economy and society. The event was organised by the Ministry of the Environment, Japan (MOEJ) at the COP27 Japan Pavilion.

Akio Takemoto (Programme Head, UNU-IAS) delivered a keynote presentation and moderated a panel discussion. He outlined adaptation financing by region, pointing out that the adaptation gap was most pronounced in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Dr Takemoto highlighted opportunities for the private sector such as disaster risk assessment services, promoting climate risk disclosure, and sharing disaster risk reduction knowledge. He stressed that the role of the public sector was to provide an enabling environment through institutional arrangements and policy development to support the private sector.

The panel discussion engaged leading experts on adaptation in the private sector and practitioners from Japanese companies with advanced adaptive solutions. They explored how to accelerate action by the private sector to close the finance gap, including mitigating risks and realising opportunities through public–private cooperation.

A recording of the session is available on the IGES YouTube channel.