IHRB at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye
The UN’s yearly climate conference, COP31, takes place between 9 and 20 November in Antalya, Türkiye.
IHRB is hosting a number of side events on locally-led climate adaptation and distributive justice, where we’ll share real-world examples of how much-needed climate finance can reach the communities most impacted by climate change and support effective and inclusive solutions that are both bankable and scalable.
If you are attending COP31 and are interested in learning more about stories of just transitions and climate adaptation happening on the ground, connect with IHRB's Just Transitions team, Haley St. Dennis and Natalie Donback.
Find out more about IHRB's official side events below. Over the coming weeks this page will be updated with a full run down of our COP engagements.
Distributive Justice and the Private Sector: Assessing Scope and Application
The just transition is fundamentally a question of distribution: who bears the costs of the shift to a low-carbon economy, who captures its benefits, and how daily decisions shape those outcomes across workers, communities, regions and generations.
Hosted by IHRB, this event draws on new research and consultation with South African transition practitioners. Voices from business, government, labour and civil society will explore how distributional questions are experienced, negotiated and addressed from different vantage points.
Panelists will reflect on what distributive justice means from their own professional and lived experience, then work through an applied transition example to examine how different choices shift costs and benefits between groups, where competing ideas of fairness arise, and what more responsible and legitimate decision-making might look like.
Rather than seeking a single formula for a "just" distribution, the discussion will explore how decision-makers can make distributional effects more visible, engage seriously with those most affected, and make choices that are transparent, defensible and capable of advancing justice even where progress is necessarily incremental.
Details
🗓️ Thursday 12 November
⏱️ 15:00—16:00 (local time)
If you have any questions about attending the event, please reach out to Haley.St.Dennis@ihrb.org
Going Local: Lessons on Financing Locally-Led Adaptation from Pilots to Scale
To adapt to increasing temperatures, droughts, and other forms of extreme weather, low- and middle-income countries need between $310 billion to $365 billion per year by 2035, including for projects that can improve the resilience of everything from infrastructure and agriculture to entire cities and ecosystems. While adaptation has historically been seen as a public good that can only be financed with public resources, the scale needed can only be reached with additional finance from the private sector, which must start thinking of adaptation as both an opportunity and a necessity for business continuity.
This event, co-hosted by IHRB and partners, will bring together key stakeholders from climate funds, network organisations, and local NGOs implementing adaptation projects on the ground for an honest and practical conversation about how we can scale local, bankable projects by learning from those who are already doing and financing it. The panel will share real-life case studies of what successful implementation looks like on the ground and share lessons learned from funders to NGOs aiming to scale their impact through locally-led adaptation.
Details
🗓️ Tuesday 17 November
⏱️ 16:30—17:30 (local time)
📍 South Africa Pavilion
If you have any questions about attending the event, please reach out to Natalie.Donback@ihrb.org
Banking on Nature: Values-Based Finance for Locally-Led, Nature-Positive Adaptation
Representatives from emerging economies gathering at COP31 are expected to call for a tripling of adaptation finance. Globally, less than a third of climate finance explicitly mentions local communities and global adaptation needs outstrip available finance 14 times.
This event brings together practical experience in local adaptation finance to share knowledge and help scale what is working on the ground, with examples from different countries around the world. The discussion will explore how values-based banking can finance locally-led, nature-positive projects and build a pipeline of bankable, scalable investments.
Speakers include representatives from: Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC); International Union for Conversation of Nature (IUCN); Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV); Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB); Dhrubotara Youth Development Foundation (DYDF)
Details
🗓️ Wednesday 18 November
⏱️ 16:45—18:50 (local time)
📍 Side Event Room Red
