COP26 Side event - “Accelerating climate innovation for cities and communities”

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Good morning, good afternoon, good evening and welcome.

To begin, I would like to thank our co-organizers, UNFCCC, UN-Habitat, UNIDO, and UNEP-DTU. Thank you very much for your collaboration.

I am pleased to say ITU has been participating in events such as this at climate change conferences for almost 15 years now, with the aim to increase the awareness of delegates to the significant contribution that digital technologies can bring to climate mitigation and adaptation. I believe over all these years the message has got home. What is needed now is to look at practical ways of implementing these technologies to save the planet.

At each COP the warnings and the evidence of the influence of human activities on the rapid changes in climate, increases.

Cities are where most human activities are concentrated and this makes cities particularly important in the efforts to reduce emissions, as well as their being especially vulnerable to the growing risks of climate change. 

Cities must therefore become leaders toward a net zero future, and in building climate resilience and formulating meaningful adaptation strategies to minimize the risks. 

As the UN specialized agency for information and communication technologies, ITU believes that technologies are the answer.

Emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, digital twin, can enable cities to leverage connectivity and data insight to monitor the changing climate, reduce carbon emissions, and enhance city planning, design and resilience.

The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated as never before the power of digital technology and has thankfully increased the application of the technology to overcome these huge challenges.

Meaningful partnership and collaboration are the foundation for tackling these challenges, and in ITU we are fortunate to have a diverse membership of 193 Member States and over 900 private sector companies, universities, and international and regional organizations. With this diverse membership we have been able to contribute through international standards to reduce emissions, protect the vital radio spectrum to monitor the climate and our planet, and encourage the adoption of enabling policies to attract the necessary investments in the innovative digital technologies that will help create the necessary rapid transition to sustainability. 

Standardization is an integral part of ITU’s mandate. Along with he International Electrotechnical Commission and the International Organization for Standardization, ITU commended the UN Secretary-General for recognizing the importance of standards in combatting climate change in his opening address to COP26 – and we stand ready to collaborate on any such initiative to share existing standards already widely used and assist in developing future ones to achieve global net-zero emissions.

ITU is also collaborating with other many organisations, including municipalities, under global platforms such as the UN’s United for Smart Sustainable Cities initiative and the WSIS Forum.

So I am very pleased that we have such an excellent panel of speakers today from a diverse set of organisations from around the world. Many thanks to you for being with us. We are very happy to work with you and others to bring the power of technology to address this the most pressing challenge ever faced by humanity.

As the United Nations Secretary General has said, “cities and urban centres are on the frontline of the climate crisis… Investment in recovery is a generational opportunity to put climate action, clean energy, and sustainable development at the heart of cities’ strategies and policies”. 

Now more than ever, the keywords are collaboration, coordination and cooperation. Let’s pool our resources and expertise together to accelerate climate innovation in cities and communities – and to leave no one offline, wherever they live. 

I wish you all a fruitful discussion as we all hope for a successful COP-26. 

Thank you. 

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