First ever indigenous impact accelerator launches at COP28

I caught up with some old friends at Al Gore’s Climate Reality Leadership reception on the sidelines of COP28, Dubai. As an alumni of Gore’s inaugural Climate Reality Leadership training programme, it was good to catch up with my old mentor, and to speak with Shri Rituraj Phukan and Claudia Laricchia, two good friends of mine who are mainstreaming indigenous values and mindsets in a bid to inspire a new wave of innovation.

They told me they have “just founded the first ever indigenous impact accelerator to scale up youth entrepreneurship” with an accelerator called the Smily Academy, great name. Claudia is the Indigenous’ Forum, global strategist and Chairman of Smily Global, and Shri is the Smily Academy India Director, as well as the founder and president of the Indigenous People’s Climate Justice Forum.

The pair took time out from the reception to speak with OnePoint5Media and Allied4Future about their work championing indigenous wisdom and innovation; and to give us their #COPHalfFull vision of the future.

Watch what they had to say in this video and learn more about the impact they’ll be making way after COP28 has finished.

Coming up in our coverage from COP28, Dubai, brought to you by OnePoint5Media and Allied4Future, we will be speaking to Arvea Marieni, director of the Regenerative Society Foundation; Nicoletta Centofanti, Luxembourg Sustainable Finance Initiative (LSFI) – and many more, as we can continue to speak with decision makers and innovators about how we move from the positive rhetoric to actions that can transform the fortunes of today’s and future generations.

Follow all our COP28 coverage, produced in partnership with Allied4Future, on these pages, across our social media channels; and remember to sign up to the Innovators Magazine newsletter to get it sent straight to your inbox. 

COP28 UPDATE

Breakdown of financial pledges and contributions so far:

• Loss and Damage: $726 million
• Green Climate Fund: $3.5 billion (increasing second replenishment to $12.8 billion)
• Adaptation Fund: $133.6 million
• Least Developed Countries Fund: $129.3 million
• Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF): $31 million
• Renewable Energy: $5 billion
• Cooling: $25.5 million
• Clean Cooking: $30 million
• Technology: $568 million
• Methane: $1.2 billion
• Climate Finance: $30 billion from UAE, $200 million in Special Drawing Rights, and $32 billion from Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs)
• Food: $3.1 billion
• Nature: $2.6 billion
• Health: $2.7 billion
• Water: $150 million
• Gender: $2.8 million
• Relief, Recovery and Peace: $1.2 billion
• Local Climate Action: $467 million