Media Advisory

For Immediate Release

Evaluating progress on forest, land use, and agriculture emissions

Nick, Susan, Heiko, and Shaun

When:
November 16, 2024 @ 3:00 PM AZT (UTC+4)

Description:

Agriculture emissions account for ~11% of global GHG emissions. At COP28 the COP presidency announced the ‘Emirates Declaration on sustainable agriculture’ with over 144 countries signing up to it. This panel will look at what has been achieved in the interim to date, as well as drawing on expert inputs around what can be done to scale and accelerate carbon reduction/sequestration from Forestry, Land Use & Agriculture (FLAG).

  • With Egypt reducing its climate ambition by 40% only 2 years after hosting COP27, it is important that host countries be held to account and that momentum for meaningful change be achieved.

  • Prof. Kimberly Nicholas: “We need agriculture to be part of the climate solution in a way that supports climate stability”.

Panelists:

Nick Breeze
Climate journalist and author of COPOUT - How governments have failed the people on climate, will update on progress made from the previous COP in this area, specifically referencing the Emirates Declaration. These changes are also aWill introduce speakers asking them to provide insight on techniques being researched and deployed, asking how initiatives are expanded, knowledge shared and collaborations deepened, in order to accelerate progress in these critical areas.

Dr. Susan Chomba
Director of Vital Landscapes, WRI Africa  - Provide an outline of the challenges being faced in landscape restoration and land use emissions. What are the key features of achievements so far through the African nations lens and how could processes be accelerated to achieve resilience and lower emissions faster?

Prof. Heiko Balzter
from Uni of Leicester is one of the principal investigators on the Land Use for Net Zero, Nature and People (LUNZ) Hub and leads a large grant that is developing a digital twin to accelerate the net zero transition on drained agricultural peatlands and ruminant farming.

Dr. Shaun Fitzgerald
Director of the Centre for Climate Repair at the University of Cambridge. Shaun will discuss opportunities for reducing emissions from peatland and methods for removing carbon - one main focus is enhanced rock weathering. Shaun can provide an overview of this technology and potential scaling opportunities.

Where:
Olympic Stadium, Baku, Azerbaijan
Press Conference Room Natavan, Area D