From October 3rd to 4th Professor Phoebe Koundouri participated in the 10th Annual Innovation for Cool Earth Forum (ICEF) in Tokyo, hosted by the Government of Japan. Over 1,700 individuals from governments, international organizations, industry, and academia, representing 79 countries and regions engaged in dynamic discussions and explored innovative solutions to combat climate change, one of the most pressing challenges of the 21st century.
Prof. Koundouri participated in a discussion on the Keynote panel with two Nobel Laureates, Prof. Andrew Zachary Fire, Stanford Univ. and Sir Paul Nurse, CEO of Francis Crick Institute, and the President of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Marcia McNutt.
The session, which was moderated by Nobuo Tanaka, Chair of ICEF Steering Committee, and Executive Director Emeritus of IEA, delved into crucial themes of sustainability, innovation, and climate change. Shared insights on the current global situation with various crises, the Policies and Actions necessary to promote sustainable society or solve global warming, and the importance of innovation for promoting sustainable society or solving global warming. During her speech, I summarized the impactful work of the UN SDSN Global Climate Hub, which develops (A) energy system, (B) transport system, (C) land-use and (D) sea-use climate resilience and climate neutral pathways (optimal mixture of technological, social and financial solution pathways) at the national level, and provide each country with the possibility of co-designing an implementable socio-economic narrative for the transition, based on the results of our scientific modelling.
Additionally, Prof. Koundouri participated in a panel discussion titled “Food, Water, and Climate Change,” which centered on sustainable agriculture, food security, and adaptation strategies for addressing the impact of climate change on water and soil.
The panel moderated by Ismail Serageldin (ICEF Steering Committee member, Co-Chair of the Board of Nizami Ganjavi International Center, Emeritus Librarian of Alexandria, and Former VP of the World Bank), included speakers: Dhesigen Naidoo (Executive for Climate Adaptation and Resilience at the Presidential Climate Commission), Rattan Lal, (Distinguished University Professor and Director of the CFAES Rattan Lal Center for Carbon Management and Sequestration at the Ohio State University), Faten Attig-Bahar (Steering Committee member of the Future Earth Water-Energy-Food Nexus Global Research Network) and Patricia Scotland (Secretary-General of the Commonwealth)
During her speech, she highlighted the integration of the WFEB Nexus by SDSN GLOBAL CLIMATE HUB in developing climate-neutral and resilient pathways. The Global Climate Hub will consider in high detail the relevance of land use dynamics and changes in land use and water management on various scales, i.e., ranging from continental to river basin scale. Furthermore, the Climate Hub Unit focusing on the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems-Land Use-Climate Nexus modeling will also employ Nexus Informatics that will identify and quantify interlinkages among sectors and resource use. Achieving the SDGs, along with the long-term sustainability of these systems requires holistic systems solutions that integrate across scales and disciplines. This unit will combine knowledge of this complex and interdisciplinary system of systems with relevant technological, policy, and human behavioral modeling and datasets.
For further details, you can access the ICEF2023 Statement and the ICEF 2023 Roadmap here: https://www.icef.go.jp/
