Climate Change Film Club, Wed Oct 13, 5-6PM - Watch the film and join us!

COP26 is on our doorsteps and the stakes have never been higher. Climate change has taken root on a global level and proven to be a force multiplier for resource scarcity, migration, and conflict. To learn what is at stake, what needs to be resolved right now, and how we can get there, the MD Sierra Film Club is proud to announce a panel with two key experts who have a seat at the table in high-level international negotiations.

Our discussion will be prompted by “The Age of Consequences” – which highlights the impacts of climate change on National Security.

Please watch the film for free on our partner’s, DC Environmental Film Festival, website on your own time prior to the discussion on 10/13 here: https://dceff.org/film/age-of-consequences/

Then prepare your questions and join us on 10/13/2021 from 5-6PM via Zoom (please register to obtain the zoom link), as we learn from:

REGISTER HERE!

Marcus D. King is John O. Rankin Associate Professor of International Affairs and Director of the Elliott School's Master of Arts in International Affairs Program, specializing in environmental security, climate change and security, environmental scarcity and fragile states, and energy security. As a professor, Dr. King draws on experience in public service, research, and the private sector. He joined the Elliott School in 2011 from the research staff of CNA Corporation’s Center for Naval Analyses where he directed studies on security, resilience, and adaptation aspects of climate change. He was also Project Director for the CNA Military Advisory Board (MAB), an elite group of retired admirals and generals constituted to provide recommendations and reports on how these topics affect U.S. national security. Interestingly, Mr. King was also a negotiator at COP6. 

Adriana Soltero La Valley is responsible for the portfolio of the Country Development Program of Inter-American Development Bank, currently stationed in Ecuador. Ms. La Valley holds a law degree from the University of Guadalajara, admitted to practice law in Mexico and the Bar of New York, with master’s Degrees in Banking and Development Finance Law from the London School of Economics and International Business Law from the American University. She has served as advisor to both public and private sector clients. Ms. La Valley has extensive experience advising governments and the private sector in structuring project financing and development programs. She served at the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit in Mexico as Deputy Director of External Credit, responsible for the external financing and infrastructure financing. In the private sector she was legal counsel for Latham and Watkins and Portfolio Manager at the Private Sector Department of the Inter-American Development Bank. Previously, she served as Chief of Operations in the Jamaica and Suriname offices; Country Coordinator, Advisor to the IADB Board of Executive Directors for Mexico and private sector portfolio coordinator, among other responsibilities.  

See you Wednesday!

Sonia Demiray
Sierra Club, MD Chapter
filmclub@mdsierra.org 

BACKGROUND ON COP26

Pre-COP Milan 9/30-10/2

Each UN Climate Conference (COP) is preceded by a preparatory meeting held about a month before, called Pre-COP. The meeting is the final formal, multilateral opportunity for ministers to shape the negotiations in detail ahead of the meeting in Glasgow in November.

The event, this year in Milan, brought together climate and energy ministers from a selected group of countries to discuss and exchange views on some key political aspects of the negotiations and delve into some of the key topics that will be addressed at COP26.

The meeting took place just weeks after a report by UN Climate Change found that nations must urgently redouble their climate efforts if they are to prevent global temperature increases beyond the Paris Agreement’s goal of 2C – ideally 1.5C – by the end of the century.

COP26 10/30-11/12

“The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, is the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference. It is scheduled to be held in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, between 31 October and 12 November 2021, under the presidency of the United Kingdom. The conference is set to incorporate the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the 16th meeting of the parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP16), and the third meeting of the parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA3).” (Wikipedia)

This conference is the first time that parties are expected to commit to enhanced ambition since COP21. Parties are required to carry out every five years, as outlined in the Paris Agreement, a process colloquially known as the 'ratchet mechanism'.

Key topics that were discussed in Milan, in preparation for Glasgow were:

• Reducing emissions to ensure that the 1.5C goal remains within reach

• Provision of finance and support to developing countries to enable them to act on climate change

• Improving approaches to averting, minimizing and addressing loss and damage from climate extremes

• Establishing a global goal on adaptation to decrease vulnerability

• Advancing the technicalities needed for countries to report on their climate actions and support needed or received

• Advancing the detailed rules for the market and non-market mechanisms, through which countries can cooperate to meet their emission reduction targets