Reflections from a COP newbie!

Returning to Luxembourg after a couple of hectic and interesting days at #COP26 in Glasgow… I’m thankful to the Luxembourg Ministry of Environment for the opportunity to join the event. This was my first experience of a climate change conference of this magnitude. After many years focus on business performance where I attended numerous global industry conferences, I’m happy to focus my attention on progress and impact over the coming years with Greenworlder.

I’m not going to reflect on the progress as such since there are many experts doing that. But COP26 certainly was a special experience and a great learning for me. We came to COP26 for future partnerships, creating opportunities for discussions and solutions while building our platform.

Many discussions (own face-to-face as well as others on stage) were about the need for multi stakeholder engagements to speed up the speed of change. This really strengthened my already strong conviction that the world needs a platform like Greenworlder, based on values such as integrity, sustainability and knowledge, enabling co-creation across stakeholder types. Because changing the world starts with integrity!

Some of my favorite moments, which also dovetail with Greenworlder’s mission:

• I was excited to see real actions from real people on the ground and hearing the voices of the young and their need for knowledge about climate education

• I listened to an excellent panel on “Net Zero smoke and mirrors” in which leading NGOs argued for the negative side-effects of carbon offsets and carbon markets. (It is clear we need to approach climate action holistically!)

• Very close to my heart was to see great examples from Futerra and Purpose Disruptors how the advertising industry could refocus on integrity, sustainability and significant, positive climate action, for example by expanding GHG reporting to also encompass “advertised emisssions”

• Pleased to see both the Luxembourg and the Swedish governments take strong leadership roles in innovation, technology and investment in market climate action

Coming back energized and even more convinced how we as a responsible social media platform can contribute to sustainable change.