Geneva, Switzerland, 29 November 2023 - Tomorrow, the international community will come together in Dubai for COP28 to find solutions to the most pressing issue of our time.

Agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) will be there to bring attention to the plight of vulnerable communities at the forefront of the climate crisis and to mobilise resources to help them adapt to our changing world.

As part of the AKDN’s work to ensure that schools, teachers and learners remain at the centre of local, national and global climate adaptation and mitigation efforts, the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) will strengthen and expand its Schools2030 coalition of government, philanthropic, civil society and development partners across 10 countries to advance climate action in and through education; placing a particular emphasis on the catalytic role of teacher leadership.

To do so, AKF and Dubai Cares are supporting 20 teachers to attend and engage in COP28's first-ever Youth and Education Day, including educators from the Aga Khan Schools. Together, they will co-launch “Teachers for the Planet” – a new online portal for teacher-led climate education solutions from around the world.

The Aga Khan University (AKU) and Aga Khan Health Services (AKHS) will host a side event at the WHO Health Pavilion to spotlight the health sector's supply chain as the most significant source of carbon emissions within health care and with problematic environmental impacts. Panellists will discuss emerging movements and experience working with suppliers, reflect on pioneering experience from the Global North and South, and share perspectives on indicators with which to track and drive progress.

Through HBL, the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development and partners will launch a Capacity Building Alliance for Sustainable Investment (CASI) to deliver higher-quality and higher-impact sustainable finance capacity building services for developing countries through a “global aggregator and distributor of sustainable finance knowledge”. The specific goals of CASI include accelerating sustainable finance market development and creating more bankable green projects in emerging markets and developing economies.

The Aga Khan Agency for Habitat will be working to elevate mountains and the cryosphere to the forefront of international policy decision making by highlighting mountain communities' heightened climate vulnerability and convening conversations to understand and manage future climate risks in the mountains of Central and South Asia.

Protecting the environment and combatting the climate crisis are amongst AKDN’s top priorities. AKDN is committed to the responsible stewardship of the environment, achieving net zero across our operations by 2030, and influencing positive environmental change in the countries and sectors in which we are active.

We look forward to sharing more details from COP28 soon.