Turning Networks into Lifelines: Financing Cell Broadcast for Climate Resilience (COP31 Side Event)

This COP31 side event, hosted by the OPEC Fund and organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), will highlight strategic funding opportunities to turn mobile networks into a public safety service. It supports the UN's Early Warnings for All​ (EW4All) initiative, which aims to protect everyone through multi-hazard early warning systems. ITU leads EW4All Pillar 3 on Warning Dissemination and Communication. This pillar promotes trusted, timely and inclusive multi-channel warnings, with a particular focus on Cell Broadcast, which sends alerts to all compatible phones in a defined area, without apps or subscriptions. 

The OPEC Fund brings a development-finance perspectiv​e, including its focus on mobilizing partnerships and turning development priorities into investable programmes. Taking place on 11 November 2026, 11:30 - 12:30 (UTC+3) at the COP31 OPEC Fund Pavilion, the session will bring together ITU's technical expertise, the mobile industry, development finance partners and countries on the front line of climate risk, including Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

​The panel will focus on practical ways to move from coverage to capability. Speakers will discuss what keeps countries from using existing mobile networks for public warnings, and what makes a country "investment-ready." 

They will look at what is needed to establish and sustain a national Cell Broadcast capability: the Cell Broadcast Centre and Entity, integration through the Common Alerting Protocol, governance, capacity development and public awareness. They will also look at how climate finance, development banks, technical assistance and co-financing can work together on project preparation and delivery. 

A recurring theme will be "capital investment is easier to raise than long-term operating costs." The panel will therefore consider who should pay to run, maintain and test systems over time, including regional or shared platforms for small island states. They will also consider how governments, regulators and mobile operators can share responsibilities fairly. ​

​Moderator: Ms Victoria Goettlicher, Head of Events, OPEC Fund for International Development​

Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of disasters. Timely, reliable and accessible early warnings save lives, protect livelihoods and reduce economic losses. But delivering these benefits takes more than technology. It requires investment in the systems, institutions and skills that turn warnings into action. 

Mobile networks can help close this gap. Mobile connectivity reaches more than 98% of the global population​, and about 85% of people​ own a mobile phone. Yet many countries still cannot send geo-targeted alerts to people's phones, largely because the components that connect existing networks to public alerting authorities remain unfunded. Financing these missing components turns existing connectivity into climate resilience and networks into lifelines.