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2021 UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26)

Sunday, October 31, 2021 – Friday, November 12, 2021
Glasgow, United Kingdom
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Connect with Us!

Abt partnered with The Climate Registry and the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions to accelerate the net zero agenda at the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26).

We hosted several side events in the Blue Zone focused on taking critical climate action; you can watch the recordings below. Connect with us to stay engaged.

The time for action is now. Abt Global is redoubling efforts to address climate change in our global operations, and our teams are bringing the full breadth of their expertise across sectors, geographies, and disciplines to help public and private sector partners meet this existential crisis. It will take all of us to urgently accelerate progress.

- Kathleen Flanagan, President & CEO, Abt Global

Learn about Abt’s climate commitment.

Our Sessions in the Blue Zone - WEEK 2

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TOOLS FOR UNLOCKING INVESTMENT IN CLIMATE SOLUTIONS
Time: Monday November 8, 14:00 -15:00 GMT (physical and live webinar)
Location: Pathways to 1.5 Pavilion – Blue Zone Hall 4
Description: Climate finance plays a critical role in helping low-income countries fight climate change and adapt to its impacts. The Climate Finance Delivery Plan identifies key actions that high-income countries can take to achieve the goal of jointly mobilizing $100 billion a year through 2025, to address the needs of low-income countries. Such actions include working with multilateral development banks to increase and improve climate finance, enhancing private finance mobilization, and strengthening the capacities of low-income countries to address existing barriers to accessing climate finance. This event will discuss tools and approaches that stakeholders in high-and low-income countries can use to unlock investments in climate change solutions, in line with the Climate Finance Delivery Plan.
Panelists: Santiago Enriquez, Abt Global (Moderator) | Michele Laird, Abt Global | Benjamin Matek, Abt Global | Alan Miller, formerly International Finance Corporation | Anaitee Mills, Cadmus Group
Watch recording: https://youtu.be/yKxHEyQjdEE

THE CASE FOR MITIGATING BLACK CARBON – CLIMATE AND HEALTH CO-BENEFITS
Time: Tuesday November 9, 17:00-18:00 GMT (physical and livestream)
Location: WHO Health Pavilion – Blue Zone Hall 5
Description:  This panel will focus on strategies and tools that governments can use to identify, model, or develop strategies to reduce black carbon in the waste sector and capture the public health co-benefits associated with these reductions. In particular, the panel will focus on approaches national planning efforts can use to account for black carbon emissions from the waste sector, especially as part of NDC development and implementation.
Panelists: Benjamin Matek, Abt Global (Moderator) | Gina Kanhai, Institute for Systems Science, Innovation and Sustainability Science, Karl-Franzens University of Graz | Joe Spadaro, Spadaro Environmental Research Consultants | Carlos Silva Filho, International Solid Waste Association | Zoë Lenkiewicz, WasteAid
Watch recording: https://youtu.be/-dvzOaGlCuo

DRIVING HEALTH SERVICE EQUITY THROUGH CLIMATE-SMART PRIVATE SECTOR ENGAGEMENT – A CASE FOR ELECTRIFYING RURAL HEALTH CLINICS
Time: Friday November 12, 10:00-11:00 GMT (physical and livestream)
Location: WHO Health Pavilion – Blue Zone Hall 5
Description: The private sector has a vital role to play in driving climate change action and increasing health equity globally. Although the public sector is essential to strengthening the enabling environment and providing funding, it cannot meet the climate and health Sustainable Development Goals agenda alone. A good example of how the private sector can be leveraged to improve climate, health, and equity goals concurrently are partnerships to electrify rural health clinics. This event will present the needs and challenges of rural health facilities without reliable access to electrification, the benefits of a renewable energy solution, and possible sustainable private sector-led and public sector-enabled financing and business models to make such a solution a reality.
Panelists: Santiago Enriquez, Abt Global (Moderator) | Paul Faeth, Abt Global | Michele Laird, Abt Global | Ralph Ankri, Orange | Dr. Flavia Bustreo, Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health
Watch recording: https://youtu.be/X2kaziiZVTo

 

 

Meet Our Delegation at COP26

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Sarah Dunn

Sarah Dunn, Managing Director, Abt Global in Britain
Sarah Dunn leads the climate team at Abt Global in Britain. She has more than two decades of experience working to address international development challenges created by the intersection of a changing climate and inequality. Dunn previously worked as a senior executive with the Department for International Development (now the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) where she was DFID country director in South Africa, overseeing all development programmes. Dunn also has a track record of delivering change in several sectors: in nutrition through a private sector foundation, in energy through a private company and in development through an NGO.

Santiago Enrique

Santiago Enriquez, Senior Climate Change Specialist
Santiago Enriquez has more than 20 years of experience in the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of climate policies and programs. He has supported stakeholders in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to strengthen implementation of climate change programs. In Mexico, he led the development of a system that helped officials monitor the implementation of close to 300 mitigation, adaptation, and cross-cutting actions. He assists public and private stakeholders in mobilizing climate investments. In Central America, he helped commercial banks develop clean energy lending products and facilitated the development of guarantees for more than $54 million USD to de-risk loans for clean energy and other development goals. Enriquez holds a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University.

Paul Faeth

Paul Faeth, Global Technical Director for Climate and Energy
Paul Faeth is a distinguished environmental economist with 35 years of experience in climate, energy, and water, managing environmental research, strategic development, and policy analysis. One of the earliest to focus on the economics of climate change, he led the design of the world’s first carbon offset program in 1989. He has worked internationally and domestically in the U.S. on such key issues as climate risk, electric power, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and water. As Abt’s Global Technical Director—Climate and Energy, he leads business and proposal development for major U.S. government opportunities. Faeth holds a master’s degree in Resource Systems and Policy Design from Dartmouth College.

Olga Allen

Olga Faktorovich Allen, Director, Strategy and Impact
Olga Faktorovich Allen leads Abt’s Impact Management Program, which works to implement impact measurement and management practices across Abt’s portfolio of projects and throughout Abt’s global operations. Allen has more than 14 years of experience conducting environmental analyses, and has spent the past decade focused on corporate sustainability, decarbonization, and impact management. Allen also leads strategic planning and business development efforts across priority markets at Abt. She holds a master’s degree in environmental sustainability management and development studies from Harvard University.

Michele Laird

Lindsay Foley, Director of Climate and Energy
Lindsay Foley, Abt Global’s Director of Climate and Energy, has over 14 years of experience leading large, complex international energy and climate change programs covering economic and policy issues in the areas of renewable energy, climate finance, nature-based solutions, low emissions development strategies, nationally determined contributions, economic resilience and sustainability, climate change mitigation, and the international climate policy process for government, multilateral, and private sector clients. She is a natural resources economist experienced in cost-benefit analysis, co-benefits analysis, and program management. She holds a master’s degree in Environmental Economics and Policy from Duke University.

Michele Laird

Michele Laird, Regional Vice President, Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean Region
Michele Laird leads Abt’s global development practice in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. She brings over 30 years of experience in financial, economic, and policy analysis. She has worked in developing countries providing financial and enterprise-enabling technical assistance in areas including climate change, clean energy, economic growth, governance, agriculture, and health. Through her projects, Laird has sought to mobilize public and private financing to advance Sustainable Development Goals. She holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Texas and is certified as an expert in Renewable Energy and Climate Finance by the Frankfurt School/UNEP.

Ben Matek

Benjamin Matek, Energy & Climate Associate
Benjamin Matek has over a decade of experience working on environmental policy related to energy, waste, and climate change. He has thousands of hours of experience conducting cost-benefit analyses for U.S. federal environment and energy regulations. Additionally, he’s an experienced modeler and climate-related tool developer. On behalf of the U.S. EPA, he has developed several tools used to model methane and other GHG emissions. His expertise includes waste management emissions mitigation, natural gas pipeline maintenance, power grid operations, renewable energy development, and oil spill response. Matek holds a masters in Energy Policy & Climate from Johns Hopkins University.

Eric Reading

Eric Reading, Senior Vice President, International Development Division
Eric Reading has more than 25 years of experience designing and implementing complex programs globally. He has worked on highly interdisciplinary programs across energy, water, agriculture, and health. His expertise includes leveraging public and private sector resources and scaling up successful solutions. Reading has direct experience with both infrastructure and nature-based solutions, and a deep background in financing and governance. He has worked in more than 65 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Reading holds a master’s in international affairs from Florida State University.

James Schroll

James Schroll, Energy and Transport Senior Analyst
James Schroll has six years of experience leading successful research and technical assistance projects for federal agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Energy, Federal Highway Administration, and Transportation Research Board, as well as for state and local governments. His expertise includes project management, stakeholder facilitation, solar, land use and zoning, and sustainable transportation. He works on issues such as climate change, renewable natural gas, energy efficiency, building energy codes, resilience, solar energy, electric vehicles, transit, and bike and pedestrian infrastructure.

Kait Siegel

Kaitlyn Siegel, Climate Change Specialist
Kait Siegel has over five years of experience working on issues related to climate change, air quality, and co-benefits of emissions mitigation. Her work supports a range of state, federal, and international clients. Siegel’s areas of expertise include stakeholder engagement, climate adaptation planning, emissions inventory and tool development, and public health benefits of emissions mitigation. Her current work focuses on methane mitigation, and the measurement, reporting, and verification of methane emissions reductions. Siegel holds a Masters of Environmental Management from Duke University; and is certified as an expert in Renewable Energy and Climate Finance by the Frankfurt School/UNEP.

jane wilkinson

Jane Wilkinson, Senior Advisor for Climate Change and Environment
Jane Wilkinson is the Senior Advisor for Climate Change & Environment at Abt Global in Britain. A published author on climate change and inequality in Commonwealth countries–and on climate finance solutions–Wilkinson has 15-plus years of experience advising governments and organisations on strategies to implement climate action and investment strategies. Jane was a diplomat for the Australian Government in Indonesia before serving the Department of Climate Change as director of policy. She influenced the design of the international climate finance framework, led research programmes at the Climate Policy Initiative, and co-founded the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance.

Learn more about our Environment & Energy experts.

Expertise We Brought to COP26

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Clean Energy Solutions and Climate Finance Mobilization

From streamlining power sector planning and policy-making to mobilizing private sector investment and scaling up lending – we work to bring about the transition to equitable, reliable, and sustainable energy, and a just transition to net-zero. Our services include:

  • Regional energy trade and integration, power sector planning, and climate vulnerability mitigation.
  • Policy and smart incentives design for clean energy.
  • Public-private-partnership development.
  • Project finance risk mitigation through tools, resources, and guidance.
  • New business models development to overcome investment barriers in emerging markets.
  • Product development and risk mitigation mechanisms for commercial financing institutions.
  • Gender- and equity-led climate investment strategies.

Tools and Analyses to Drive Action Towards Net Zero

Our analyses support the development of markets and market-based approaches, monetize the value of nature-based solutions, inform regulatory development, and generate trusted evidence that advances climate action across sectors and scales. Our services include:

  • Cost-benefit analyses and co-benefit monetization of nature-based solutions.
  • Health climate impacts and mitigation co-benefits.
  • Environmental justice screening tools.
  • Climate impacts communication and indicator visualization.
  • Geospatial analytics and decision support tools.
  • Short-lived climate pollutants accounting and mitigation.
  • Adaptation planning and capacity building for resilience.

Mainstreaming Climate Risk Management and Bolstering Resilience

We systematically apply a climate lens to programs and challenges within health, housing, natural resources, education, and economic growth. Through a context-sensitive approach, we develop risk mitigation plans grounded in participatory engagement and underpinned by data, which also enables the quantification and monetization of climate risk management benefits. Our services include:

  • Sector-specific climate risk management and adaptation strategies.
  • Flood risk geospatial modeling to fill in downscaled climate data gaps.
  • The extrapolation and valuation of climate risk management benefits.
  • Precision geography to determine highly localized risks.
  • Inclusive and participatory stakeholder engagement.
  • Explaining complex climate change indicators through innovative, interactive communications
  • Evaluations of distributions of resilience program benefits

Centering on Climate Equity

We center on elevating the voices of those affected most by climate change. We characterize the uneven distribution of adverse effects across marginalized populations, assess cumulative risk, quantify co-benefits of climate action, and facilitate the inclusive co-creation of solutions.  Our services include:

  • Indigenous People’s lifeway climate risk characterization, and community-driven resiliency planning and implementation.
  • Gender-responsive programming, voice, and empowerment.
  • Cultural humility and inclusive participatory engagement.
  • Visualizations integrating demographic data with physical climate models to assess distributional impacts effecting marginalized communities

Inclusive and sustainable economic development for fossil-fuel dependent communities and those who are traditionally economically disenfranchised.

What We’re Talking About

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Blogs:

Podcasts:

What We’re Working On

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Learn more

Impact Report

Advancing a Thriving Natural Environment

Focus Area

Climate, Environment & Energy
Link

Abt Insights: Addressing Climate Change & Accelerating Clean Energy Strategies
Download

Abt Britain Carbon Reduction Plan
Link

Abt Insights: Energy and Economic Growth
Glasgow, United Kingdom