Join us for the 13th Development & Climate Days at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change COP 21 meeting in Paris for two days of innovative approaches and incisive dialogue, focused on the theme Zero Poverty, Zero Emissions: Tough talk on poverty and climate.

• Register for D&C Days 2015 (first come first serve)
• View the draft programme and concept note
• Learn about the venue – the L’Usine

D&C Days will feature dynamic, interactive discussion, including participatory games, lightning talks, role-play discussions, two high-level panels, and more.

Participants will explore ways to integrate climate and poverty targets, influence the UNFCCC negotiations and identify agreements that continue momentum towards achieving zero-zero.

Pivotal moment

The Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre and IIED join the UK’s Overseas Development Institute (ODI), International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) to facilitate debate and dialogue on bringing the goal of zero poverty and zero net emissions within reach.

Stakeholders engaged in climate talks at COP21 will join together at D&C Days to discuss how to implement recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals, injecting urgency and ambition to new widely anticipated climate agreement.

Since 2014, the 5th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said we must achieve zero net emissions of greenhouse gas by 2100 – offsetting any remaining emissions by removing an equivalent amount from the atmosphere – to stay below a 2°C average rise in global mean temperature.

History of the D&C days

The hugely popular D&C Days fringe event was first initiated in 2002 at the COP 8 UN climate talks by the Saleemul Huq of the International Institute for Environment and Development in Delhi (IIED), when adaptation to climate change was at best a marginal issue.

Over the years it has brought together policy-makers, scientists and development practitioners to debate the now-central theme – helping to place adaptation centre-stage with climate policies and programmes worldwide.

In 2014 the D&C Days event alongside COP 20 took place in the Peruvian capital, Lima. ODI filmed sessions over the two days, and the event was captured graphically by artist Jorge Martin. ODI’s Susan Nicolai and Katy Harris provided reflections on the key takeways from the 2014 D&C days discussions, while CDKN’s Mairi Dupar wrote a two-part blog exploring the possibility of coherence among the 2015 development, climate, and risk reduction frameworks.

The Climate Centre also reported on an cooperative project to create solar-powered, lighter-than-air sculptures at the Lima D&C Days, challenging people to rethink approaches to tackling climate and poverty.