As the UAE prepares for the 28th session of the Conference of Parties (COP 28), Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the financial center in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region, has launched ‘Climate Finance Training Series‘, a programme to bolster the path to achieving sustainable development goals. 

Commissioned by the DIFC Academy and jointly delivered by the Global Ethical Finance Initiative (GEFI), the series forms a part of DIFC’s Path to COP28 campaign aimed at enabling financial services practitioners understand the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC’s) COP28 process, global trends in climate finance and best practices to developing and implementing net zero strategies. 

 “The pressure on financial institutions and stakeholders to commit to achieving net zero will only increase. As a result, the financial services sector needs to act fast before COP28. The ‘Climate Finance Training Series’ is an effort to inform the sector about the significance of global trends in climate finance and the best methods for creating and putting into practice the net zero initiatives”, Alya Al Zarouni, Executive Vice President of Operations at DIFC said in a statement.

Some curriculum modules include ‘Deconstructing COP28 and the Role of Financial Services’; ‘From Global to Local – Navigating Climate Finance Regulations’; ‘Initiatives and Frameworks’; From Talk to Action – Developing and Implementing Climate Policies; and Targets and COP 28 Preview – Expectations of Finance. The first module of the training programme will be delivered on 12 January 2023 and has already attracted more than 300 registrations. Subsequent modules will be delivered in March, June and October 2023. 

The programme will assist practitioners in supporting the UAE Green Agenda, National Climate Change Plan and UAE Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative. 

Academics, including David Pitt-Watson, Fellow at Cambridge Judge Business School, and Dr Ian Cochran, Programme Director – MSc Climate Change Finance & Investment at the University of Edinburgh in the UK, support this customized programme available to attend either online or in-person. The programme is also CPD accredited with pathways to official professional certifications. 

Recently, DIFC and GEFI announced a 12-month partnership ahead of COP28, which is taking place in Dubai. The partnership is aligned with DIFC’s Strategy 2030 and reflects its progress in driving Dubai’s reputation as the region’s leading sustainable financial hub.