Responding and Adapting to Climate Change in the European Union and in Latin America and the Caribbean: Fostering Cooperation at the Interregional Level

Organising partners: UNU-CRIS in partnership with the EU-LAC Foundation, Université libre de Bruxelles and the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro

Organisers: Frank Mattheis, Andrea Ribeiro Hoffmann and Bruno Theodoro Luciano

Venue: Geremek Room, Institute for European Studies, Université libre de Bruxelles, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt  39, Brussels (Belgium)

This policy dialogue discusses cooperation between Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and the European Union (EU) in finding common solutions to environmental and climate change problems. Taking place just ahead of COP29 in Baku, this event brings together practitioners and experts from both continents to identify the main challenges and pave the way for interregional responses to the climate crisis.

The 2023 high-level EU-CELAC Summit made climate change a priority for EU-LAC cooperation. However, policymaking and implementation have so far fallen short of expectations. In LAC, traditional regional organizations have lost dynamism, and regional initiatives, such as the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, the Escazú Agreement and the Amazon Fund, provide innovative platforms to address climate urgencies, but have yet to fully exploit links with the EU. On the European side, the Green Deal and the Global Gateway have mechanisms to work with LAC on climate change, but finding a common language on vulnerabilities, adaptation and financing modalities remains contentious.

The road to COP 30 in Belém, in the middle of the Amazon Forest, provides the EU and LAC with an opportunity to intensify their interactions. In this spirit, this policy dialogue brings together stakeholders from various sectors and governance levels – subnational, national and supranational – to contribute to a better understanding of each other’s perceptions and advance a common agenda.

 

Preliminary Programme

9:00 - 9:15

Welcome Session

Alberto Brunori, EU-LAC Foundation

Philippe De Lombaerde, UNU-CRIS

 

9:15 - 10:15

Opening Panel: EU-LAC Partnership in Context

Bruno Theodoro Luciano (Moderator), ULB

Camila Polo Flórez, Embassy of Colombia in Belgium

Christian Burgsmüller, Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Affairs, European External Action Service

 

10:15 - 10:45

Tea break

 

10:45 - 12:15

Climate Panel 1: On the road to COP30 Belem: what is the potential for EU-LAC cooperation in climate governance?

Andrea Ribeiro Hoffmann (Moderator), PUC Rio de Janeiro

Bruno Julien-Malvy, DG for Climate Action, European Commission

Lauren Ritchie, Eco-Justice Project, Bahamas

Igor Vidal, Brazilian Mission to the EU

 

12:15-13:30

Lunch break

 

13:30-15:00

Climate Panel 2: Implementing the EU Green Deal and Global Gateway: European and LAC perceptions

Simon Happersberger (Moderator), VUB/UNU-CRIS

Geert Anckaert, DG for International Partnerships, European Commission

Maria Martins, KULeuven

Carolina Pavese, FIA Business School

 

15:00-15:30

Tea break

 

15:30-17:00

Climate Panel 3: Prevention and response to the climate crisis and subnational actors: experiences from Europe and LAC

Frank Mattheis (Moderator), UNU-CRIS

Nikola Adamovská, Prague University of Economics and Business, Czech Republic

Ana Raquel Almeida Dias, University of Minho, Portugal

Lautaro Lorenzo, Mercociudades Network, Argentina

 

17:00-17:15

Final remarks by organisers

 

 

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