World leaders gathered in Dubai, UAE for COP28 with the aim of curbing climate change from 30th November to 12th December 2023
German sustainability leader Darius Maleki, co-founder of one of the country’s most important business sustainability initiatives, give sus his candid lowdown of more than a week spent at COP28
Arriving at Dubai Airport from Frankfurt, I was impressed to see the amount of buzz around the conference, with dedicated entry points for COP28 delegates, as well as information counters in every corner.
I  made it to the site of Expo City on the morning of 2nd December. At the entrance of the Blue Zone, I was overwhelmed by the diversity of the crowd, all in line to pick up their UN badges.
Darius Maleki in the opening area of the Blue Zone at COP28 The first official event I attended was the DZ Bank x UNECE Conference in the Action Room of the Blue Zone, discussing Transition Finance. Keynote speakers included Dario Liguti and Souad Benkredda, with a summary by Tatiana Molcean revealing concerns about the current 2-degree trajectory, the need for sector-specific plans, and financial institutions’ lack of understanding of or ability to identify these sectors. The session emphasised the importance of financial institutions, especially fund managers, recognising the commercial value of their undertakings for effective scaling. There was a realisation of a technical knowledge gap for private sector scaling, prompting discussions on incentives for ...