COP 21 : 2 Side-events


COP 21 - Side-event n°1 (Official area)

  December 8, 2015
  Le Bourget, France
  Climate Change


This side-event aimed to further disseminate the outcomes of the international Conference on methane and to continue the discussions to widen awareness of decision makers about the importance of an action on methane for climate. It was held in the official restricted area at Paris-Le Bourget.
 

" The Veolia Institute organized this side-event in partnership with the U.S. Department of State and the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA)".

Participants exchanged scientific knowledge, explored available mitigation options in one of the major emitting sectors (the waste sector) and discussed economic and financial mechanisms that would facilitate the development of these solutions for meeting the climate challenge.

Speakers 
 

Dr RAMANATHAN, Professor of Atmospheric and Climate Sciences at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Dr. Ramanathan discovered the greenhouse effect of Choloro-fluoro-carbons in 1975. He predicted in 1980 that global warming would be detected by 2000. He led the Indian-Ocean-experiment that discovered the widespread Atmospheric Brown Clouds and the large warming effect of black carbon. He has made fundamental work on the atmospheric greenhouse effects of CO2, water vapor, methane, ozone and HFCs as well as on the feedback effects involving sea ice, tropical clouds, and storm tracks. Using such empirical observations, he showed that mitigation of short-lived climate pollutants will slow down global warming by as much as 50% during the next few decades. In response, the United Nations has formed the Climate and Clean Air Coalition. He is now focusing on the plight of the bottom 3 billion people who will suffer the worst consequences of climate change and developed a new approach called as The Two Worlds Approach to provide clean/renewable energy access to the bottom 3 billion. One example is Project Surya which is mitigating black carbon and other climate warming emissions from solid biomass cooking in India.
 
He is now serving in Pope Francis’ Council for the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Through numerous meetings and summits he helped organize on behalf of Pope Francis at Vatican, an Alliance between Science, religion and policy is emerging with a potential for a transformative effect on the global efforts to slow down climate change.
 
He was honored as the 2013 Champion of Earth for Science and Innovation by the United Nations and named as the 2014 Global Thinker by the US Foreign Policy. He has been elected to the National Academy of Science, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical society and has won numerous other honors.

James Close, Climate Group Director for Policy and Finance at the World Bank

During his career in the professional services industry, James Close provided strategic and financial advice to a range of public and private sector clients. He has also undertaken a two-year secondment as head of the Corporate and Private Finance team at the UK's Treasury, where he gained experience with the challenges facing governments in trying to establish a suitable enabling environment for private sector investment. James Close advised the Greater London Authority on its climate change and environment policy. At Ernst and Young, he led the Climate Change and Sustainability Services. Mr Close, a chartered accountant, joined the World Bank Group in 2013 as the program manager for PPIAF, a multi-donor trust fund which enables infrastructure investment.

Gary Crawford, Vice President of International Affairs in the Public Affairs Department of Veolia

Gary Crawford is employed by Veolia as Vice President of International Affairs and is based in Paris. He has over 25 years of experience in the waste industry and has held various operational, technical, and managerial positions.
 He is responsible for establishing active partnerships with key global stakeholders and institutions to support the Company’s current activities and developing business. He is focused on emerging growth markets associated with cross-cutting subjects such as the Circular Economy, Climate Change and Smart Cities.
 
He is on the Board of the International Solid Waste Association and is Chair of its WG on Climate Change. Representing ISWA, he is a member of the Steering Group of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition Municipal Solid Waste Initiative.

Panel moderated by Karen FLORINI, Deputy Special Envoy for Climate Change at the U.S. Department of State 
 

Organizer
  • Veolia Institute
Partners
  • The U.S. Department of State
  • ​​International Solid Waste Association (ISWA)​

COP 21 - Side-event n°2 (Climate Generations areas)

  December 8, 2015
  Le Bourget, France
  Climate change

The side-event n° 2 aimed to further disseminate the outcomes of the international Conference on methane and to continue the discussions to widen awareness of civil society about the importance of an action on methane for climate.
 

"The Veolia Institute  organized this side-event in partnership with the Agence française de Développement and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation."

Participants exchanged scientific knowledge, explored available mitigation options in one of the major emitting sectors (the waste sector) and discussed economic and financial mechanisms that would facilitate the development of these solutions for meeting the climate challenge.

Speakers

  • Roland Kupers, Advisor for Environmental Defense Fund and Associate Fellow at Oxford University
  • Michel Colombier, Scientific director of the Institut du développement durable et des relations internationales (IDRRI)
  • Monique Kallassy, Landfill Manager in the Corporate Technical and Performance Department of Veolia
     
A side event animated by Bertrand CHARRIER, Research Officer, Innovations for Development at the Agence Française de Développement (AFD)