GREAT made it to COP27 in November 2022
Climate change means a lot of things to a lot of people. That was evident during GREAT’s presence at the UNFCC Conference of the Parties (COP). For some, it means floods, for others draughts, or job creations and reskilling.
For GREAT, it means data.
GREAT had the honour to be invited by the University of Helsinki to a side event organised by the Atmosphere and Climate Competence Center (ACCC) at the Cryosphere Pavilion.
Marta Gutiérrez from EGI Foundation presented the GREAT project at the side event titled “Data as a basis for policy, innovation and education”. A series of keynotes, followed by a panel discussion, and an interactive workshop with the audience, brought evidence of how data is key in tackling climate change.
Several perspectives on the usage of climate data were presented by the panel, ranging from education, policymakers, climate attribution as well some of the key issues when analysing climate data. GREAT presented the challenges ahead and the plans to build the European Green Deal Data Space.
A great opportunity indeed for our project as COP27 managed to gather an audience of over 35,000 participants from all over the world, including the voices of indigenous people, youth and children, politicians, head of state, standard bodies, companies, UN’s and NGOs.
Despite the controversy of whether it is right or wrong to mobilise such an event at the expense of our climate, or whether negotiations are fast enough, we were all there for the same cause, to tackle climate change. It is not to be underestimated how much it can be done by just changing our habits and our relationship with nature and our planet. GREAT is on a mission to find and share with the world as much data as possible to bring us closer to the ambitious targets of the European Green Deal.
The hospitality of the Egyptians and the sharp organisation of the event at the green city of Sharm el Sheik was remarkable.
Big congratulations to Egypt.