Skip to content

The Green Web Foundation at COP 27

the COP 27 logo for Sharm El-Sheikh

For the first time ever, we have staff at a COP climate conference, talking about the need for fossil-free internet by 2030 – read on to find out what events we’ll be at, and if you are there too, how to meet up.

From Nov 12th to Nov 16th our executive director, Chris Adams will be at COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt.

As a member of the larger industry body the Green Software Foundation, we take an active role in the policy working group, their industry events, and on the podcast we talk about Green Software with experts from around the world.

For COP27, we sent Chris to Sharm El Sheikh to talk about green software with policy experts – if you’re around, the easiest way to get in touch is shoot an email directly to Chris at chris-at-thegreenwebfoundation-dot-org, or while the twitter website is still working, and a DM to @mrchrisadams on twitter.

Speaking about Digital Arts & Sustainable Web at the UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub

In addition, on Wednesday at twelve noon Egypt time, Chris will be joining a panel of experts in UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub Pavilion in the Blue Zone, organsed by Climate KIC.

This is obviously a big deal for us as a small but growing NGO, but this is also the first time a dedicated space has been set aside to help understand the role the cultural & creative sector plays now in shaping how we think about climate, but also what role it can play in a future to avoid the worst of global warming, and stay on track for 1.5.

For full details, please see the climate KIC webpage, but for convenience, we’ve added some more details below:

Session 3, 12:00 – 13:00 | Digital Arts & Sustainable Web

Location: UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub Pavilion in the Blue Zone,

This panel symbolises the start of an ongoing inclusive conversation between civil society, government at all levels, Indigenous Peoples’ organisations, cultural organisations and institutions, businesses, universities and research organisations and other stakeholders – signalling our shared ambition to create just, thriving, and resilient communities today and into the future.

Moderator: Muchaneta ten Napel, Founder and CEO of Shape Innovate

Confirmed speakers: 

  • Chris Adams, Executive Director, The Green Web Foundation
  • Katherine Foster, Executive Director Green Digital Finance Alliance
  • Miroslav Polzer, Miroslav Polzer, Founder & CEO of IAAI #Glocha, Chairperson Global Challenges Foundation
  • Adriaan Eeckels, Science & Art (SciArt) Project Leader, European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) 

A side note about the irony of flying to a climate conference

There’s an unavoidable dissonance associated with flying to a conference discuss the climate crisis – on an individual level, there are few activities a person can take that cause more greenhouse emissions in a shorter time frame.

We didn’t take this decision lightly and in the next month, we’ll share a dedicated post about our thoughts on incorporating high emitting activities into our work as a non profit working in the sustainability sector.

Til then, we can say we’ve been influenced by work on frequent flyer levies as a source of equitable finance, the New Climate Institutes’ Climate responsibility concept, and different ways to implement internal carbon pricing as a way to internalise the costs that are normally shifted onto society, and incentivise more thoughtful decisions about travel.