Connect4Climate highlights of 2017

  Film4Climate winners showcased at SHORTCUTZ Festival in Lisbon

Connect4Climate received 860 inspiring climate change solutions stories from young people around the world (155 countries) that raised their voices through the Film4Climate Global Video Competition showing that it is possible to take on climate change. The winners were announced at the United Nations Climate Conference (COP22) in Marrakech, Morrocco, at a day celebrating the power of youth, cinema and the creative industries to generate climate action and tackle climate change. On January 10, 2017 the winning videos were showcased at the SHORTCUTZ Festival in Lisbon, Portugal.

Photo Credits to Nuno Gervásio

  FICG 32 - Guadalajara International Film Festival

The most prestigious film festival in Latin America, FICG has been playing an instrumental role in the establishment of the Film4Climate global initiative, having hosted its official launch in 2015 as well as a successful dedicated session during its past edition. 

  #Photo4Climate 2.0: Can an image stop climate change?

Photography has the power to capture moments, disclose realities and to convey messages to the world. It carries this responsibility throughout time, long after people have forgotten about the event. For this particular reason, this year, Connect4Climate re-introduced the #Photo4Climate Instagram Challenge - this time with an edgier and bolder twist added to it.

  The Sustainable Innovation in Sport Forum 2017

The Sustainable Innovation in Sport Forum 2017 was held in Munich, Germany, on 22-23 February. Over the two days, the Forum gathered high-level industry stakeholders and influencers from sporting federations, teams and athletes alongside government representatives, broadcasters, NGO, and businesses.

  Meet the Film4Climate Filmmakers

Youth from around the Planet submitted their Film4Climate stories in a global call for climate action. Emotional, powerful, solutions-orientated films to inspire individuals, organizations and world leaders to take action on climate change, and build a greener future. Who are these young filmmakers? What inspired them to tell a story on this global issue and share it with the world? In order to better understand their background, willing, and expectations, Connect4Climate presented a series of interviews with some of the Film4Climate Global Video Competition winners.

  SEforALL FORUM: Going Further, Faster – Together

  Related content:

        Sustainable Energy for All Forum: Day 1 highlights

        Sustainable Energy for All Forum: Day 2 recap

         Last day highlights from Sustainable Energy for All Forum

         Paul Needham interview at Sustainable Energy for All Forum

         Leonide Sinsin interview at Sustainable Energy for All Forum

         Ivan Shumkov interview at Sustainable Energy for All Forum

         Mary Robinson at Sustainable Energy for All Forum

         Hon. Dr Chitalu Chilufya interview at Sustainability for All Forum

         Jane Ebinger & Barbara Buchner at Sustainable Energy for All Forum

 

 

  LIVE Q&A with filmmaker of “Three Seconds”

 

Young people have the power to create change. This believes Spencer Sharp, filmmaker, and producer of “Three Seconds,” first prize short-film winner of the Film4Climate Global Video Competition. On the Connect4Climate Facebook live Q&A, live on  April 4th, Spencer Sharp expressed his point of view on climate change, and on the power that cinema has to tackle this issue.

  2017 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the IMF

The Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) each year bring together central bankers, ministers of finance and development, private sector executives, and academics to discuss issues of global concern, including the world economic outlook, poverty eradication, economic development, and aid effectiveness. Also featured are seminars, regional briefings, press conferences, and many other events focused on the global economy, international development, and the world's financial system. 

 

  Earth Day 2017

The movement continues. 2017 was the 47th year of a movement that continues to inspire, challenge ideas, ignite passion, and motivate people to action.

Connect4Climate at Earth Day TX 2017

 

  Innovate4Climate: Finance and Markets Week

  2017 Cannes Film Festival

Connect4Climate participated in the 70th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, determined to continue strengthening the work done during the last few years to green the silver screen. Through Film4Climate’s key goals of supporting more sustainable practices in film production and encouraging the inclusion of climate action in content creation, Connect4Climate has been actively encouraging the film Industry to rethink the way they see the complete production process, from the very beginning until the final result.

 

Film4Climate Global Video Competition winners promoted in Cannes

 

 

 

  5th Dialogue on Action for Climate Empowerment

 

The 5th Dialogue was organized in two sessions which focused on one thematic area with international cooperation being discussed as a cross-cutting theme. Both sessions included presentations on good practices and lessons learned followed by working group discussions. The Dialogue sought to inspire and energize participants through inspirational speeches and presentations.

 

  G7 Environment/All4TheGreen

  Related content:

        G7 Environment: “The Paris Agreement is irreversible”

        #All4TheGreen: Italy as a leading player

        Millions connected to the All4TheGreen week supporting an ambitious G7 Environment outcome

        Faith leaders unite around a shared commitment to protect the Planet and combat climate change

        Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I's message to the Interfaith Forum

        For World Environment Day Bologna opens its doors to the All4TheGreen Week

        #All4TheGreen: A new alliance among institutions, NGOs, and the private sector

        #All4TheGreen Infographic

        #All4TheGreen Week of Activities

        G7 Environment discussions brought to a global audience by the SDG Media Zone/All4TheGreen Week of activities

        G7: Bologna set to be the World Capital for the Environment with All4TheGreen

        G7: Bologna Capitale Mondiale dell’Ambiente

 

 

  Photo4Climate Contest: Are you #All4theGreen?

 

In the lead-up to the #All4TheGreen G7 Environment Week in Bologna - a week dedicated to discussing and celebrating the environment during the G7 Summit -, Connect4Climate invited everyone who is passionate about the planet, the environment and everything around them to share their most striking photographs as a way to declare and celebrate the importance of Our Common Home.

 

Contestants were asked to submit their visual masterpieces by sharing them on their Instagram account using the #All4TheGreen hashtag. What’s important to you for green progress? What is your pledge for the environment? What is #All4TheGreen?

 

 

#All4TheGreen Contest: Meet the finalists

 

More than 660 photos, from 43 countries. Connect4Climate was delighted with such an international response, illustrating an overwhelming celebration of Mother Earth through photography. The #All4TheGreen Photo4Climate Contest received entries from five continents, clearly, a worldwide response underlining the importance and necessity of protecting the Planet for present and future generations, and also stressing the beauty and vibrancy of the environment. A picture can indeed say more than a thousand words.

 

Winners of #All4TheGreen Contest announced

 

The #All4TheGreen Photo4Climate Contest’s jury, composed of the renowned photographers Leigh Vogel, Reza Deghati, and Daniel Rodrigues, has selected the 10 winning entries. Participants distributed by 43 countries across the five continents showed the importance and necessity of protecting the Planet for present and future generations, and at the same time stressed the beauty and vibrancy of the environment. A picture can indeed say more than a thousand words.

 

 

The winning entries were exhibited in Bologna, Italy, in the lead up to the G7 Environment, during the All4TheGreen week, organized by an international ecology-development alliance to promote sustainable development. 

 

Connect4Climate, in partnership with the High-Level Panel on Water, awarded the #All4TheGreen Photo4Climate Contest Special Blue Prize for the best photo of anything related to water in your life. It could be clean water, dirty water, lack of water, and also how water insecurity can lead to fragility and violence. It could also answer to how the lack of running water and sanitation leads to disease and stunting. How too much or too little water leads to environmental disasters and suffering. To sum up, how do you value water? The response to our Special Blue Prize was impressive. At stake was a chance to win a trip to New York City for the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2017.

 

#All4TheGreen Contest Special Blue Prize: The 20 finalists

 

#All4TheGreen Contest Special Blue Prize: The Winner​

 

Connect4Climate and the High-Level Panel on Water were then proud to announce that the winner of the #All4TheGreen Special Blue Prize is Probal Rashid, from Bangladesh, with a photo taken in his country portraying how water stress is affecting individuals in his community. 

  Probal Rashid, Bangladesh      Shyamnagar, Satkhira, Bangladesh

  The Ocean Conference - United Nations

Complementary to the United Nations Oceans Conference, many scientists, young people, businesspeople, politicians, and activists dropped by to speak to the world and to link up live with the Digital Media Zone in Bologna, Italy.

 

The G7 Environment Ministers, in Bologna, discussed the importance of continued support for the Paris Agreement. The All4TheGreen week hosts a range of side events raising awareness about the importance to protect our environment.

 

Starting the partner programme with a live link for the official opening of both events, on 5 June, the SDG Media Zones continued their collaboration the following day with a conversation led by the Italian Minister of Environment Gian Luca Galletti.

 

Moreover, this live link between New York and Bologna announced Probal Rashid, from Bangladesh, as the #All4TheGreen Photo4Climate Contest Special Blue Prize winner.

 

Probal Rashid shares why he decided to participate in the #All4TheGreen Photo4Climate Contest Special Blue Prize live from Bangladesh. Photo Credits: Kaia Rose

  Film4Climate at Venice Film Festival

The oldest festival in the world, the Venice Film Festival is this year recognizing the fast-growing interest in Virtual Reality (VR) and the potential impact that it could make on the creative industries by featuring for the first time ever an official VR competition.

Against the backdrop of a city that could be one of the first to be affected by global warming and the rise in sea levels, the World Bank Group’s Connect4Climate program announced its “Uniting4Climate International Virtual Reality Pitch Competition” for climate action and climate solutions. 

  Uniting for Climate Action during UNGA72 SDG Media Zone and Climate Week in New York

The Connect4Climate partnered on the Sustainable Development Goals Digital Media Zone at the UN, September 18-22, 2017, supporting with speakers, communication coverage, and moderation, as well as in the Social Goods Summit on September 17, 2017.

Uniting4Climate Panel at UNGA72 SDG Media Zone: Highlights

  Immersive Media Forum at the Johns Hopkins University MICA Film Center in Baltimore, the USA

A new genre of audiovisual experience, Virtual Reality (VR) is now set to become a major player in the entertainment and communications industry, and it is a medium that can prove very useful to climate change and sustainable development communications. The simple placement of a 360-degree camera in certain development situations allows practitioners in the field to share an on-site experience directly with colleagues, management, and indeed sponsors.

  2017 Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the IMF

The Annual Meetings traditionally are held in Washington two years out of three and, in order to reflect the international character of the two institutions, every third year in a different member country. In addition to the meetings of the Boards of Governors, the Development Committee and the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) are officially convened. The Development Committee and the IMFC advise the Boards of Governors on issues of global concern, including the world economic outlook, poverty eradication, economic development, and aid effectiveness

2017 Annual Meetings Program of Events

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde. Photo Credits: World Bank / Grant Ellis​

  Green Shanghai’s Connect4Climate Competition

Green Shanghai’s Connect4Climate Competition: Winner Announcement

“This is a shoot of China’s urban jungle. Slowly seeing less and less of this city as the years and pollution gets worse.” Photo Credits: Killian Hauser

  One Planet Summit

At the One Planet Summit, on the 2nd anniversary of the Paris Agreement, world leaders gathered once again in the French capital to underscore how financial flows are shifting billions and trillions towards a low-carbon future that will benefit peoples and livelihoods.

World Bank Group Announcements at One Planet Summit

 

High-Level Session Opening Remarks by World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim

 

Photo Credits: Ibrahim Ajaja / World Bank

 

The conveners of the Summit signed a Declaration to welcome the outcomes of the event, which launched an array of landmark commitments.

 

One Planet Summit: Finance Commitments Fire-Up Higher Momentum for Paris Climate Change Agreement

 

12 Ways The World Bank Group is Supporting a Climate-Smart Transformation

 

Towards a Climate-Smart World: 12 Ways for a Resilient Future

 

 

  Laudato Si’ Challenge

 

 

The Laudato Si’ Challenge united humanity in common purpose and productive conversation, much like His Holiness Pope Francis’s “Revolution of Tenderness.” It was a beacon of new business, inspiring a new generation of entrepreneurs to build for-profit, for-purpose companies that address humanity’s biggest challenges in ways that are beneficial to all.

 

Connect4Climate partnered with the “Laudato Si' Challenge 2017," an initiative advised by His Eminence Cardinal Peter Turkson, Prefect to the Dicastery of Integral Human Development. The challenge actively supports social justice by finding, funding and incubating early to mid-stage startup companies that have solutions to climate change and human migration with innovations across seven categories (food, water, energy, conservation, urban solutions, and finance and industry) in accord with the principles of Pope Francis’s Encyclical “Laudato Si’”.

 

‘X-Ray Fashion’ Wins the Uniting4Climate Virtual Reality Pitch Competition

 

Described as an x-ray investigation of the fashion industry, the creators of X-Ray Fashion plan to take the audience on a journey through the lifespan of garment production, consumption and disposal - an experience that will immerse the spectator in the often adverse effects on our climate and our environment, and the devastating consequences for many of  the workers involved, while at the same time showing how consumer habits can be changed and how solutions are at hand if actions are taken.

  2017 Global Landscapes Forum

 

The GLF is the first global movement of its kind and the world’s largest science-led multi-sectoral platform on landscapes, bringing together world leaders, climate negotiators, policy makers, development practitioners, private sector representatives, world-class scientists, civil society and the media to accelerate action towards the creation of more resilient, equitable, profitable, productive and healthy landscapes. Since 2013, over 25,000 stakeholders from more than 3,000 organizations and 110 countries have engaged with the GLF.

 

The GLF helps decision-makers on all levels appreciate the need for inter-connected solutions at the landscape level. Through its Community of Landscapes, the GLF scales-up to directly engage and connect landscape stakeholders everywhere and support them in enhancing well-being and the environment.

Addressing Climate Change: Why Forests Matter

 

 

  World Bank Group Youth Summit 2017: Technology and Innovation for Impact

 

Young people are increasingly aware of the challenges that tackling climate change represents for its generation, but also of the opportunities that a resilient, low carbon future embodies.

 

Their efforts and willingness to be uniting for climate action further, faster, together are an inspiration for the world. Connect4Climate created a space at the World Bank Youth Summit to give youth voices an international exposure. 

 

The Connect4Climate team still mourns the passing of the Connect4Climate founder and soul, Lucia Grenna. She will always be in our thoughts and actions. May Lucia rest in peace. #Love4Lucia