On June 4, the World Bank Group's third Innovate4Climate (I4C) global conference convened in Singapore for honest discussions of climate finance and investment markets. Innovate4Climate is an annual opportunity for leaders of all sectors to come together and accelerate action on climate finance, technology and development.

As part of the Connect4Climate #YouthTakeover initiative, I and four other students from Nanyang Technological University's Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information were invited to manage C4C's social media channels to share the details of our educational journey throughout the conference.

It was an inspiring experience for us to get the rare chance to listen to financial experts explain market mechanisms that would drive the climate investment market. As communications majors, we were brought in to learn about the economic drivers and influences that hold the potential to greatly ease mankind's transition into a climate-friendly world.

Before the main conference began, our team participated in a climate change journalism workshop, where journalists from all around the region came together to discuss the skills involved in reporting on climate impacts and solutions. The workshop explored the many ways that journalists today can report, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of different mediums such as photography, informative videos and writing. Many experts were also brought in to share their thoughts on the effectiveness of communications in the digital sphere, and to educate us on the intricacies of the climate disaster that we would need to take to heart.

By getting the chance to interact with prominent journalists from all around the region, we also learned that every country has unique challenges with the social psychology of their target audience. We thus took the opportunity to pool our knowledge and trade media ideas within the group, diffusing important information like data and academic research that could greatly benefit the efficiency of future international communications efforts.

On the first day of Innovate4Climate, the team split up to cover various plenaries from distinguished speakers of the climate finance industry. Mr. Vivek Pathak, regional director for the IFC in East Asia and the Pacific, marked the start of the conference with a rousing and humorous speech highlighting the first signs of imminent change—and expressing his approval of the lack of plastic at the conference.

Throughout the few days of the conference, we went through several important plenary topics such as the plastic revolution, development of green bonds in Asia Pacific, catastrophe bonds and the commercialization of clean tech. Although some of the topics were very niche, we were able to pick up vital points from the speakers that helped us understand key foundational links among various economic stakeholders and private-public partnerships.

The end of Innovate4Climate was marked by an exciting innovation pitch competition. We got an exclusive front-row view of the five finalists' pitch presentations: each of their ideas had immense potential to change current structures in the agricultural, transport and architectural industries and foster a greener future.

The pitch hub contestants flew in from all over the world and were brimming with confidence and determination to achieve their goals. It was heartening to see how small-medium enterprises were considered a key part of the innovation process and were given an opportunity to fulfill their potential on the world stage.

We are honored to have been a part of Connect4Climate's #YouthTakeover, a brilliant initiative that brings young people into the climate conversation and that offered us a deeper look into the mechanisms that will shape our future. Throughout our journey, the team regularly had to brainstorm collectively on our social media strategies, as we were tasked with understanding complex financial knowledge and simplifying it for our youthful audience.

 

It was a great chance for us to identify challenges in traditional reporting from mainstream media while actively honing our own lexicons and skill sets to be able to connect more efficiently to the youths we represent.

Michael Grimm, CEO of Carbon Negative, delivered perhaps the most memorable quote of the event for us. He was on hand in the journalist workshop to explain fully the frightening scenarios and consequences that are to come, but he found a silver lining in the fact that we will all need to band together if we are to successfully save our planet.

"Climate change will not see nationality, race or socioeconomic statuses. It will affect us all, but I am positive we can beat this."

Innovate4Climate 2019 saw hundreds of climate leaders congregate in Singapore to hash out knotty green finance issues and brainstorm about the road to global sustainable living. In addition to veteran eco-advocates, though, the organizers of Innovate4Climate were sure to highlight the achievements of younger people and up-and-comers in the movement. One of the most exciting examples of this was the Pitch Hub Competition, in which hundreds of teams representing groundbreaking green start-ups submitted concepts to a panel of discerning judges. Of an initial 239 high-quality entries from teams spanning 81 countries, the judges selected 5 finalists to pitch their ideas live in Singapore for a chance to win thousands of Amazon Web Services dollars to infuse into their businesses.

The Wastezon team, who "envision a waste-free world," delivered a pitch on a mobile app that would allow its users to interface directly with the recycling industry, enabling them to regiment their consumption and disposal much more effectively and to be active participants in a circular, waste-free economy. The app was also built to be of use to manufacturers, who can capitalize on its blockchain features to get discarded products recycled and back in consumer hands much more efficiently. Everybody wins.

Positive Energy Ltd. centered its presentation on renewable energy, pushing for a "drastic shift from large fossil fuel infrastructure to smaller solar and wind distributed assets." Seeking to help people passionate about sustainable energy avoid the usual discouraging inefficiencies of non-specialized investors and local banks, Positive Energy offers a blockchain-driven service that pairs project developers with investors free of middle men in a secure digital environment.

Mellowcabs, which earned the third-place spot on the Pitch Hub podium, shared its concept of a fully electric minicab taxi service that urban travelers could enlist at will via a dedicated mobile app. Specifically, Mellowcabs wants to cut back on the substantial carbon emissions arising from short-range trips in trafficky city conditions. The app will be tapped in to public transit options as well to give users the most efficient, pleasant, and eco-friendly trips possible, and the sides of the taxis will be emblazoned with advertising from green-minded sponsor organizations.

Nodis took second place for its presentation on revolutionary window technology. By suspending sheets of color-coated nanoparticles between panes of laminated window glass, Nodis is able to produce windows whose tint can be set by consumers with the push of a button and changed whenever desired. Any degree of tinting, from fully translucent to fully opaque, is possible for purchasers of Nodis windows, and the levels of tinting can be preprogrammed by building managers or homeowners to maximize eco-efficiency and minimize headaches.

Sinba was unanimously awarded the Pitch Hub Competition's top prize for plan to cultivate a world "sin basura" (without waste). In particular, Sinba's focus is the food industry: its business model centers on buiding relationships with restaurants and other food businesses and helping them cut back on costs by sustainably integrating their organic waste back into their own supply chains. Instead of getting dumped in landfills, food waste can be reprocessed for use as future fertilizer or pig feed, saving food vendors money and helping to save the planet too.

In addition to Amazon's cash infusions for the winning teams, all five teams who reached the finals were awarded the chance to attend a three-day start-up strategy boot camp put on by ImpacTech.

We at Connect4Climate offer our congratulations to all these teams of game-changing innovators, including the hundreds of entrants who didn't make it onto the podium this time around but who clearly have great ideas for a greener future.

The Earth Day Network's Climate Leadership Gala, which took place this Wednesday at a hotel ballroom in Washington, D.C., saw an unlikely congregation of climate allies come together to recognize one another's work in accelerating climate action and to lay out new strategies for ensuring a greener future. Attendees included influencers from governmental organizations, popular media, social media, private industry, and the youth protest movement.

Earth Day Network president Kathleen Rogers kicked off the festivities with a reminder of the impact the original Earth Day made on so many people in the United States and abroad back in 1970, and maintained that the Network remains fully committed to promoting that same kind of enthusiasm around climate issues to this day. Rogers and her organization are looking forward to the many climate awareness activities planned for Earth Day 2020.

The first Earth Day remains "the largest civic event in human history," says @EarthDayNetwork president Kathleen Rogers, setting the tone for a series of talks on the positive steps we all can take across industries and communities to combat climate change pic.twitter.com/YgD329M2RA

— Connect4Climate (@Connect4Climate) May 14, 2019

Washington, D.C.'s Ward 3 councilmember Mary Cheh emceed the event, calling special attention to the recent achievements of youth in the realm of climate advocacy.

The youth of the world "are our future, and they're going to save us," says @EarthDayNetwork Gala MC (and DC councilwoman) @marycheh #ClimateAction #EarthDay2020 pic.twitter.com/7C0AlYQVZO

— Connect4Climate (@Connect4Climate) May 14, 2019

Early on, the night focused on the efforts of business leaders to cultivate greener images for their brands. Suzanne DiBianca, executive vice president of corporate relations at the San Francisco-based software firm Salesforce, accepted an award in recognition of her company's work eliminating its carbon footprint and enlisting community stakeholders in a sustainability and climate awareness campaign. Toyota's sustainability director Kevin Butt, for his part, discussed the automaker's latest strides in hydrogen- and electricity-powered vehicles, and laid out new goals for further reductions in the company's overall carbon emissions.

"We realized that the community was an important and critical stakeholder," says @SuzanneDiBianca of the green company Salesforce as she accepted her award at the @EarthDayNetwork gala. "Hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours have gone toward climate causes." #ClimateAction pic.twitter.com/HoVHDUh3My

— Connect4Climate (@Connect4Climate) May 14, 2019

After these talks the gala pivoted toward popular media when well-loved Today show veteran Al Roker accepted an award of his own for his commitment to communicating the severity of climate change. In his speech, Roker said he was grateful to be able to use his platform to distribute scientific fact to the American public and keep the dialogue on sustainability going in these contentious political times.

"You don't need a weatherman to tell you which way the wind is blowing," says Climate Visionary Award recipient @alroker. "We have to take an advocacy stance to let our politicians know that we believe in this" and hold them accountable. @EarthDayNetwork #climatechange pic.twitter.com/456qYEScvE

— Connect4Climate (@Connect4Climate) May 15, 2019

As fish and falafel dinners were served to the assembled guests, National Football League chef Charity Morgan took to the podium to discuss her work improving the diets of American footballers. She noted that, contrary to what you might expect, the food provided to these athletes has historically been nutrient-poor and unsustainable. She's been changing that one meal at a time, establishing a positive, sustainability-minded relationship with the NFL and arranging more nutritious plant-based dietary options for players.

"How do you get NFL players to go plant-based? You speak to them with food," says Chef Charity Morgan, whose work has spread healthy, sustainable meal practices throughout the NFL @ChefCharity #EarthDay2020 @EarthDayNetwork pic.twitter.com/yPU7t11fUk

— Connect4Climate (@Connect4Climate) May 15, 2019

The next award recipient was the evening's youngest speaker, 13-year-old climate striker Alexandria Villaseñor, who was recognized for her work galvanizing the first-ever worldwide school strike for climate on March 15. Inspired by school strike for climate pioneer Greta Thunberg, Villaseñor is mobilizing youth around the world for an even mroe ambitious international demonstration on May 24.

"Together, my activist friends and I rallied 1.6 million students in 125 countries to take place in the first-ever international climate strike on March 15," says 13-y.o. activist @AlexandriaV2005. The next is on 5/24. "I will never give up." #climateaction @EarthDayNetwork pic.twitter.com/xxuV48VKT6

— Connect4Climate (@Connect4Climate) May 15, 2019

Rounding out the evening were presentations from actress-turned-documentary filmmaker Ashley Bell and blockbuster director James Cameron. Bell, whose documentary debut Love and Bananas makes a compelling emotional case for the protection of elephants worldwide, accepted her climate leadership award with a call to preserve the beauty of nature for future generations. Cameron concluded the gala with remarks beamed in from New Zealand, focusing on the importance of civic engagement in bringing about systemic change and exhorting everyone to "Get involved, get informed, and vote Earth!"

Climate Leadership award winner Ashley Bell directed the landmark elephant documentary Love & Bananas. "We wanted audiences to feel empowered and uplifted when watching it," she says, not dejected and hopeless. @EarthDayNetwork #ClimateAction #EarthDay2020 pic.twitter.com/MPZ1PWt73n

— Connect4Climate (@Connect4Climate) May 15, 2019

The World Bank Group and Connect4Climate will be holding a Remembrance for Max Thabiso Edkins, our dear friend and colleague whose life was taken away so tragically while en route to the UN Environment Assembly and One Planet Summit in Nairobi, Kenya.

The tribute will take place on May, 6th 2019, from 4 – 6pm (DC Time) at World Bank Group Headquarters. You can follow the live stream here:

[video:https://youtu.be/TKDMkwgTBwU]

To navigate to specific parts of the memorial program, please see a detailed timeline here.

Given the dire state of the Earth’s climate and the mounting frequency of natural disasters, it can be tempting for even the staunchest climate activists to fall into a spirit of pessimism. One way of overcoming these feelings is by celebrating the resilience of communities and countries the world over that are actively fighting for a sustainable future in spite of the many challenges nature has thrown at them.

This theme of resilience in the face of disaster is at the heart of the Global Facility for Disaster Risk and Reduction’s ongoing art competition The Art of Resilience, put on in collaboration with the World Bank Art Program. Any artist who has produced work inspired by resilience and feels comfortable sharing it should submit their art—up to 5 pieces in total—for consideration using the instructions found at this link. Submissions will be accepted through May 17.

Competition winners will see their art exhibited at World Bank Group Headquarters in Washington, D.C. for three months beginning in October of this year. Their reflections on resilience will be available for viewing by visiting delegates, Bank staff, and members of the public. Later, in 2020, the winning artists’ pieces will also feature at the Understanding Risk forum in Singapore, which the artists themselves will all be invited to attend. Lastly, the artworks will be preserved for posterity in a creative online database.

Communicating the necessity of climate action and poverty mitigation is no simple task; art stands alone in its power to bridge disparate communities, remind us of our shared humanity, and inspire the bold, innovative action that the Global Facility for Disaster Risk and Reduction, the World Bank Art Program, and we at Connect4Climate strive to encourage every day.

This competition presents a thrilling opportunity to bring to light moving and inspirational works that will motivate all of us down the path to a better future.