The Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association is at COP27 in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt, leading and participating in numerous events. On the first day of the conference, Prof. Rym Ayadi, President and Founder of EMEA, participated in 3 events.
Accelerating the transition to a net-zero economy: unlocking eco-innovation and climate-driven business models lead by Medwaves in the Spanish Pavilion.
This event explored how development and innovation based on the SCP (sustainable Consumption and Production) and CE (Circular Economy) approaches are crucial to achieve net-zero economies and climate change mitigation. Prof Ayadi participated as the keynote speaker and Dr Harris Eyre, cofounder of Brain Capital Alliance joined as a panellist discussing the potential to harness brain capital to fuel innovation and entrepreneurships.
Valuing natural capital – ecosystem payments for a just transition organized by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in the Just Transition Pavilion.
The event can be viewed here: https://live.ilo.org/events/ecosystem-payments-just-transition-2022-11-08
This event explored how valuing natural capital proves a promising strategy to fight climate change. Framing the value of eco-systems in economic terms can help decentralised financial approaches to address both lack of financing for nature preservation and support for local development. Protecting nature can become a driver of just transitions to a green economy and provide new resources for a productive economic system.
Ralph Chami, Executive Board Member of EMEA, opened the event by introducing the topic of valuing natural capital, and discuss different valuation methods and present results for various eco-systems from his work at the International Monetary Fund.
Prof. Rym Ayadi then extended the discussion to biodiversity credits and their challenges. She explained that biodiversity offsets are valuable, however, it is necessary to effectively measure and assess these practices to ensure their success. She also highlighted that for natural capital systems to work, there must be regulation to avoid greenwashing and a there should be a regulatory authority to act as a watchdog allowing for the establishment and development of market conditions.
The final event of the day was Climate: the Mediterranean Hotspot, from scenarios to solutions organised by The Union for the Mediterranean.
The event can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dxTckmMqiY
This event aimed to highlight the severe challenges facing the Mediterranean region as well as to illustrate, share, scale up and discuss the advanced solutions and initiatives applied and planned in the region.
In her intervention, Prof. Rym Ayadi highlighted that the Mediterranean region is a climate hotspot, yet Mediterranean countries face varying challenges based on the specificities of their economic and social systems, especially after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The key question to answer is, who will pay for these long-term climate crisis interventions?
You can follow all Mediterranean Pavilion events at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCASNGUR_tKXjDFW0K6LDHrg but check back to the EMEA news for the recordings and other events.
