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Welcome.

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Today we have Sir Alok Sharma,
Liz Yee, and Veronica Chau.

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Liz, Rockefeller Foundation
recently announced a ton of

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climate work.

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Can you tell us a bit about that
and what motivated it?

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Thanks so much for the question,
Naomi.

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The Foundation just recently
announced its climate strategy

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for the next five years.

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We announced a billion dollars
focused on climate, in

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particular, because we were a
Foundation grounded in the

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principles and focused on trying
to support the world's most

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vulnerable and ensure the
well-being of humanity.

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So, in that regard, we felt
that climate was the most

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challenging crisis of our
current time.

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In so doing, we wanted to focus
on three things.

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First, our programs, which is
what we've always been known

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for.

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But in order to actually deliver
on that vision, we also

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committed to make our endowment
net zero, as well as our

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operations net zero by 2050.
Programmatically,

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we wanted to continue to focus
on the core drivers that were

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important to be able to uplift
humanity and make sure that

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people had access to
opportunities.

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So we're continuing to focus on
ensuring that populations have

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access to clean energy and that
we support a just transition.

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We're also recognizing that, in
this climate crisis, food and

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nutrition access is a really key
challenge.

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And so we'll continue to work on
ensuring that people have access

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to good food that is good for
them, as well as the planet.

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Since the food system causes 30%
of greenhouse gas emissions,

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that felt critical.

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The third area that we will
focus on is climate and health

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and recognizing that we don't
know all of the challenges that

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climate warming will
bring, but that we recognize

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we need to be able to understand
that, and ensure that vulnerable

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populations have access to
quality healthcare and

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opportunity.

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And then the last is the finance
systems.

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Climate finance is flowing,
certainly, but not at the scale

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and the speed that we need, and
also not in an equitable way.

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And so through that lens, we
will look at how we can

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re-architect finance systems and
also ensure that climate finance

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is distributed equitably across
people.

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Alok, I would love to go deeper
on climate finance with you.

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What do you see as the
challenges and opportunities in

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mobilizing capital for climate
impact, especially among

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vulnerable communities?

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Well Naomi, firstly, thank you
so much for having me on this.

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And can I just say that I think
what Liz sort of set out in

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terms of Rockefeller's strategy
is absolutely brilliant.

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And you know, the biggest
challenge that we have in the

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coming years and the coming
decades is to deal with this

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chronic threat of climate
change. And it is getting worse.

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And you talked about vulnerable
communities.

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You know, we're in a position
right now where millions,

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billions of people, lives,
livelihoods, infrastructure, and

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countries are being affected.

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And we've seen some improvements
in terms of finance flows.

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There is more money
flowing, but the reality is that

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it is not flowing at scale
overall, and it's certainly not

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reaching the most
climate-vulnerable communities

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out there.

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And I think one of the things
that we do need to be doing is

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looking at more innovative ways.

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And this is where Rockefeller
has been doing a lot of work on

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concessional finance, on foreign
exchange risk areas, working,

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supporting, brilliant
individuals like Mia Mottley,

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with her Bridgetown agenda.

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And that's what we need to do.

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We need to have the catalyst,
the really vital catalyst,

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provided by the philanthropies,
working with governments to then

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unleash the billions, the
trillions that are needed from

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the private sector.

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Veronica, anything to add to
that?

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Well, just completely agree with
everything Alok was saying.

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The positive signs that gives me
hope is that the world is waking

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up to these opportunities.

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In a survey that we just
completed of over 100 climate

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investors in collaboration with
the Rockefeller Foundation, we

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found overall signs of optimism.

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Investors see the opportunity.
Things like, in Latin America,

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they see it as the next market
to take off. Nature-based

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solutions are top of their
agenda.

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So there is a sentiment, but
exactly what Alok was saying,

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they'll need creative solutions.

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They'll need creative capital to
unlock these opportunities.

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And that's where I think what
the Rockefeller Foundation is

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doing, putting that capital up,
is so essential.

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COP28, it's early so far, but
any reflections on signs of

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optimism, or anything you really
hope to see in the next few

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days?

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Well, let me just sort of kick
off on this.

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We're into day four, am I right?

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Day four.

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It feels like day 40 already.

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But we've actually had some
really positive announcements on

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money for loss and damage, the
pledges there, some of the big

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money, in terms of private
sector finance.

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But I'll just make this one
particular point, which is that

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we also know that when all of
these pledges are made, the

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money doesn't always flow as
quickly as it should.

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And we know that between 2013
and 2021, all the money that was

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pledged by developed countries,
around only half of it, has

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actually reached the most
climate-vulnerable people in the

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world.

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So I'm all for pledges, I'm all
for big commitments.

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We need those, but please get
the money flowing, at scale.

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It's a great question, Naomi.

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I actually am really optimistic
about what's happened so far

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here.

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I think Alok said it really
well. There are a number of

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positive finance announcements
that have happened, and it came

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out strong right on that first
day, of the things that we know

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we needed in terms of the $30
billion to climate finance to

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crowd in that private sector
capital.

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Things are moving.

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And I think, Veronica, you were
exactly right on the report. By

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demonstrating and having that
quantitative knowledge that

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private investment, which has
always been an obstacle in this

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space, is starting to come in.

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So that gives me hope.

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I think the other thing that has
given me hope is that we now

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have a Food Day, we now have a
Health Day, we now have a Gender

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Day.

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All of those things that haven't
happened in the past, and those

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voices that aren't always at the
table, at the volume that they

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should be, are happening now.

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And so that brings me extreme
hope.

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From the Foundation's
perspective, one of the things

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that we were very focused on
this year, in particular, was

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climate and health.

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And recognizing that we are the
human face of climate change.

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And getting it right.

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And recognizing that only half a
percent of funding each year

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goes to health and that the
world is continuing to warm.

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We actually support, one of our
grantees, is a large women's

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network in India.

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And these women are actually
unable to hold the tools in

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their hands.

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They're unable to go to work.

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Their pregnancies are being
challenged because of extreme

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heat.

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And their lives are already hard
in terms of making ends meet at

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home.

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And so ensuring that we provide
solutions, that we bring those

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voices to the table that we
actually recognize that we need

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to focus on health, is a
critical issue.

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And that was why the Foundation
said we're going to commit $100

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million to the space.

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We're going to figure out how to
do it and make sure that we help

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transform and elevate resourcing
to health

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that needs to happen.

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Now maybe just one final
reflection.

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This COP is huge.

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It's sprawling.

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And, yet, I think it's a perfect
representation of the deployment

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challenge at hand.

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The vastness of the scale of
this COP is a reminder of the

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vastness of the scale now, of
the amount of finance that

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actually needs to be put to work
today, to decarbonize, to

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promote resilience, and reach
the most vulnerable communities.

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So that's what I'll be taking
away from this one.

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Thank you so much all for
joining us.

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Thanks, Naomi.

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Thanks for having us.