The College of Public Policy (CPP) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) organized a Climate Policy Day on March 28, with three high-level events aimed at bridging science, public policy, and governance challenges. The full day of dialogue was led by Dr. Andreas Rechkemmer, Professor at CPP, and gathered international policy leaders, development experts, and academics.

Co-organized with the Stimson Center in Washington, D.C., a high-level roundtable centered around the report “Building Back Together and Greener: Twenty Initiatives for a Just, Healthy & Sustainable Global Recovery”. The report advances a strategy to promote timely, effective, and global joint action, beginning with the United Nations (UN) and G20, to help advance broad consensus and action on building a healthy, sustainable, and inclusive future. The Stimson Center authored the report for Doha Forum 2022, where HBKU was an institutional partner.

Dr. Leslie A. Pal, Founding Dean of CPP, moderated discussions, with speakers including Dr. Richard Ponzio, Director, Global Governance, Justice and Security Program and Senior Fellow, and Nudhara Yusuf, Facilitator of the Global Governance Innovation Network, and Research Assistant - the Stimson Center.

An “Authors Working Lunch – Special Journal Issue on Climate Policy Innovation” brought together HBKU experts including Dr. Huda A. Al-Sulaiti, Senior Research Director, Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI), Dr. Rechkemmer, as well as faculty and students from HBKU’s College of Law, and College of Islamic Studies, Qatar University, Doha Institute, and Macquarie University, among others. Participants exchanged ideas and contributions for a planned special journal issue on innovative climate policy.

The day concluded with a guest lecture by Dr. Deborah Brosnan, international scientific consultant and Adjunct Professor of Biology at Virginia Tech University. Dr. Brosnan explored the inherent risks, opportunities, and nuances associated with implementing nature-based policy solutions to combat climate change. 

After the event, Dr. Rechkemmer said: “Climate Policy Day was designed to bridge the science, public policy, and governance dimensions of a broad-based multilateral approach to mitigate against the climate crisis. It was an opportunity to connect CPP’s insights, solutions, and initiatives here in Qatar, with those of our institutional partners. We were able to build on the conversations that took place at Doha Forum 2022, which considered the paths ahead for the international community and multilateral organizations. Our sessions were highly thought provoking and for that, we thank each of our knowledgeable speakers and the wider HBKU community for sharing in the discussions.”

High-profile experts and policy leaders who took part in Climate Policy Day included HE Michael Mlynar, Ambassador of Slovak Republic to the UN, HE María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President, 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, and Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense, Ecuador, Dr. Adriana Erthal Abdenur, Co-founder and Executive Director of Plataforma CIPÓ and member of the UN ECOSOC Committee on Development Policy, and Maja Groff, Esq., Convenor of the Climate Governance Commission.