Innovation is key to achieving the 2030 climate goals. For this reason, the German Development Cooperation GIZ, the LEDS LAC network of organizations and the Climate Change Directorate of the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica, launched in November a series of virtual dialogues to learn about the experiences and challenges of the climate agendas of the Latin American region and identify opportunities to develop innovation processes articulated between public, private, civil society and academia.
This first activity included the participation of the public sector, cooperation and academia through the Government of Chile, the Climate Change Directorate of Costa Ricathe University of Costa Rica and the United Nations Development Programme.
The next dialogues will be held in the first quarter of 2022.
In this first opening, it was emphasized that innovation is a transition that must be fair and equitable. In addition, the importance of technical assistance, technology transfer and financing mechanisms to promote investment in innovation and how the latter should influence the way in which research, policies and development are generated was discussed in depth.
Challenges
For the activity consisted of addressing the challenges in the different innovation processes. Among the main challenges that were defined were:
- Scarce funding for climate research and innovation.
- There is little time left to make changes by 2030, so immediate action is required.
- There is a need for integration of the public and private sectors in the implementation of climate actions.
- Solutions that benefit without affecting vulnerable populations must be proposed.
- Given the heterogeneity of the Latin American and Caribbean region, listening to innovation needs in order to implement NDCs is fundamental.
Next steps
After initiating this series of conversations, interested individuals or organizations are encouraged to inform the GIZ-LEDS LAC team if they are developing climate innovation projects in the region. In this way, the call is open for people to register their interest in participating in the next Regional Dialogues on Innovation with Climate Impact.