XPRIZE is attending the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) November 30th until December 12th 2023, in Expo City, Dubai. As the designer and organizer of the world’s largest and most innovative incentive prize competitions, XPRIZE will be present to discuss active prizes, connect with world leaders, and collaborate on building a more abundant future for all.
COP28 provides innovators and future-positive activists a global stage to showcase their ongoing work in fighting climate change, and gives the world an opportunity to understand the advances made towards a greener future. Organizations such as XPRIZE’s inclusion in these discussions opens the door for authentic, well-researched, and powerful discourse to be had while further encouraging accountability, and plays an important role in the impact of COP28.
EXPERIENCE COP28: THE XPRIZE WAY
Find a catalog of XPRIZE events, their date, and location below. For descriptions, please scroll to the relevant section. To learn more about the different zones present at COP28, click here.
December 1 Sessions (Friday):
- Session 1: Ambitious Moonshots for a Sustainable Future (Green Zone), Invitation Only
December 2 Sessions (Saturday):
- Session 3: Elevator Pitches: Green Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow (Green Zone), Invitation Only
- Session 4: Designing Visionary Climate Solutions (Green Zone), Invitation Only
December 4 Sessions (Monday):
- Scaling Durable Carbon Removals: Mapping Global Opportunities and Obligations (Blue Zone)
December 6 Sessions (Wednesday)
- Multi-Level Action for a Warming World sponsored by Foreign Policy (Future Mobility Hub)
- City Leaders Advancing Carbon Removals for Sustainable Development (Blue Zone)
- Ocean Decade x OceanX Pavilion “Solution Dialogue” (Blue Zone)
December 8 Sessions (Friday)
- XPRIZE Rainforest: International Cooperation for the Fight Against Biodiversity Loss (Blue Zone)
December 9 Sessions (Saturday)
- Coral Restoration Fireside Chat (Green Zone)
- XPRIZE Rainforest: Technology & Nature (Blue Zone)
December 10 Session (Sunday)
- XPRIZE Rainforest: CORDAP Panel (Green Zone)
DEC 1 - FRIDAY
Session 1: Ambitious Moonshots for a Sustainable Future (3:45 - 4:45pm)
Invitation Only, Green Zone
A panel discussion moderated by XPRIZE CEO Anousheh Ansari, with EVP Biodiversity & Conservation Peter Houlihan, EVP Food, Water & Waste Lauren Greenlee, Ph.D., and Chief Impact Officer Andrew Tauhert. A discussion of the power of positive ambition, the technology needed to create a sustainable future, and how audacious “moonshots” can change the world.
DEC 2 - SATURDAY
Session 3: Elevator Pitches: Green Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow (2:15 - 3:30pm)
Invitation Only, Green Zone
XPRIZE, partnering with Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) and Breakthrough Energy, will host this panel to illuminate the process behind participation in an XPRIZE, and the work after a competition’s close.
Session 4: Designing Visionary Climate Solutions (5:45 - 7:00pm)
Limited to 50 Attendees, Green Zone
This interactive session roundtable introduces session attendees to XPRIZE moonshot development process. Attendees will engage in a moonshot workshop by guiding attendees through the idea design process.
DEC 4 - MONDAY
Scaling Durable Carbon Removals: Mapping Global Opportunities and Obligations (5:00-6:00pm)
Invitation Only
Puro.earth, Rethinking Removables, CarboCulture will be hosting a panel discussion on how policy instruments are being progressed in different regions globally to scale durable carbon removals, how the Paris Agreement could support this, and what individual countries plan to do. This will be looking at good practice on supply side, demand side including corporate disclosure as the world legislates to keep 1.5°C alive. A meta-map on all the policies will be presented. Speakers on the panel include: Dr. Steve Smith, Executive Director at Oxford Net Zero and CO2RE Oxford University; Mr. Anders Adlercreutz - Minister European Affairs and Ownership Steering, Finland; Silha Ndirangu - CEO Great Carbon Valley, Kenya; and Nikki Batchelor - Executive Director, XPRIZE Carbon Removal.
DEC 6 - WEDNESDAY
Multi-Level Action for a Warming World sponsored by Foreign Policy (9:00am-12:00pm)
Future Mobility Hub
Against the backdrop of COP, where the stakes for collaborative action on climate comes to the fore, Foreign Policy will host a morning of thoughtful discussions on decarbonization, carbon removal, gender equality, and climate resilience efforts across sectors. While the world converges on solutions for a warming planet, this forum underlines the powerful effect of collaborative efforts across various levels of governance and society. Joining the discussion will be Executive director of XPRIZE Carbon Removal Nikki Batchelor.
City Leaders Advancing Carbon Removals for Sustainable Development (1:30-2:30pm)
Invitation Only
This panel will discuss strategies for how cities can adopt carbon removal. The conversation will start with a fireside chat with the Mayors and Governors moderated by Dr. Sanjeev, Carbon Removal Lead at Climate Champions to hear real life stories on the challenges of city-level action on carbon removal. This will be followed by a panel discussion with representatives from South Pole, World Resources Institute, SMO, and Executive director of XPRIZE Carbon Removal Nikki Batchelor to discuss how barriers to action can be overcome.
Ocean Decade x OceanX Pavilion “Solution Dialogue” (3:00-4.30pm)
Invitation Only, Blue Zone
This roundtable discussion will bring together experts in marine science and technology to discuss how we can use the moonshot competition model to incentivize technological breakthroughs to accelerate solutions to the Ocean Decades challenges.
DEC 8 - FRIDAY
XPRIZE Rainforest: International Cooperation for the Fight Against Biodiversity Loss (4:30 - 5:45pm)
Blue Zone
Moderator Peter Houlihan, XPRIZE EVP of Biodiversity & Conservation, will be joined by a panel of leaders from the tropics to discuss how international governments and organizations can better act to stop biodiversity loss and work together to preserve the health of our world’s most fragile ecosystems.
DEC 9 - SATURDAY
XPRIZE Coral Restoration: Technology & Innovation Panel (4:45 - 5:20pm)
Green Zone
Gabriel Abed, Ambassador of Barbados to the U.A.E., will join XPRIZE EVP of Biodiversity & Conservation Peter Houlihan to discuss how XPRIZE Coral Restoration is using creative collaboration to kickstart the prize launch, inspire future-positive thinking and benefit the local community of Barbados.
A private reception celebrating creative advances for coral restoration hosted by Mandarin Oriental will take place ahead of this panel.
XPRIZE Rainforest: Technology & Nature Panel (6:00-7:00pm)
Blue Zone
XPRIZE EVP Biodiversity & Conservation Peter Houlihan will discuss rainforests with partner Alana Foundation, a social and environmental impact group that promotes a better world for children, as well as MDIC. This panel will cover the state of our rainforests, particularly long-suffering areas of importance, and how technology can provide our ecosystems a fighting chance. This session will cover some of the technology developed for XPRIZE Rainforest and how it is being used to catalog biodiversity at an unprecedented rate.
XPRIZE Food Waste and Water Reception (5:00-7:00 PM)
Invitation Only, Blue Zone
Engage with XPRIZE Leadership and distinguished guests as we come together to forge impactful collaborations to accelerate innovative approaches to food and water security. This exclusive gathering is designed to be a convergence of visionary minds, fostering innovative conversations that will shape the future of our planet.
DEC 10 - SUNDAY
XPRIZE Coral Restoration: CORDAP Panel, (TBC)
Green Zone
XPRIZE EVP Biodiversity & Conservation Peter Houlihan will join experts from the G20 Coral Research and Development Accelerator Platform (CORDAP) to discuss the growing need to revive and restore coral reefs in our oceans. By accelerating international research and developing new technologies through global incentive competitions, we can change the outlook for the future of coral reefs.
BETTER TOGETHER
XPRIZE is honored to be part of the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28). We firmly believe that international cooperation is the key to solving the world’s grand challenges. Whether undertaken on an individual or national level, each of our unique perspectives can unlock powerful, positive change. We are better together.
COP28 is an exceptional opportunity to foster this collaboration, and XPRIZE looks forward to providing our very own innovators and future-positive activities a new opportunity to showcase the important work we do.
We hope to see you at our panels between November 30th and December 12th 2023, in Expo City, Dubai. For those not able to join us, stay tuned for exciting content and recaps on our website and social media for the latest future-positive updates.