SPARC at COP30

How can governments, NGOs and climate funds support climate-vulnerable people living through protracted crises and conflict?

SPARC has worked for six years in several of the most fragile and conflict-affected countries in Africa and the Middle East. Our research has highlighted:

• the impacts of climate change on some of the most marginal and climate-vulnerable livelihoods in the drylands;
• advice for climate funds and banks on how to scale up climate finance and action in fragile and conflict-affected countries, and to build countries’ readiness to access and use climate finance;
• support for regional economic communities and climate negotiators looking to better understand and manage transboundary climate risks;
• the complex links between environmental degradation, conflict and climate change;
• entry points for governments, donors and NGOs on how to build long-term climate resilience in communities affected by conflicts and protracted crisis.

At COP30, SPARC researchers will be sharing key lessons, and convening partners to carry on momentum about these discussions, at a number of events.

SPARC-supported side events at COP30

All events are in the Blue Zone at COP30. All eventes are in person only.

• 'The hidden middle of food systems: driving climate action and just rural transitions beyond the farm'

12 November, 10.45-11.45 / Action on Food Hub

Food systems transformation holds immense potential for advancing adaptation goals across the Global South while facilitating low-carbon development, but it won’t be won on farms alone. This roundtable, hosted by SPARC partner Mercy Corps, will bring together government, DFIs, corporates and other partners to discuss how to drive investments in climate-resilient food supply chains to facilitate adaptation goals.  

• ‘Bridging the gap: making climate finance work for the underserved’

12 November, 12:15-13:45 / Side Event Room 4

This official UNFCCC side event, coorganised by SPARC partner ODI Global, the Climate Security Mechanism at the United Nations, and the Group of Friends on Climate and Security, and featuring Minister-level representation from the new climate network of countries affected by conflict and crisis, will include key lessons from SPARC’s research into the ‘conflict blind spot’ in climate finance.

• 'Somalia unveils NDC 3.0 investment plan to drive resilience and low-carbon growth by 2035 '

13 November, 09:30-10:30 / Somalia Pavilion

At COP30, Somalia will officially launch its NDC Investment Plan 2025–2035: Investing in Somalia’s Climate Future, a landmark framework that charts a costed and comprehensive pathway for delivering the country’s enhanced NDC 3.0 commitments. SPARC researchers will take part in this event to share some of the prorgamme’s key work on climate finance and resilience in Somalia. 

• 'Community-driven resilience for conflict-affected, fragile, and displaced communities'

15 November, 16:00-17:00 / Peru Resilience Hub

This session, coorganised by SPARC partner Mercy Corps, will make the case that the priorities of frontline and displaced communities in fragile settings should be the drivers of climate aid and governance. It equips participants with tools to reframe current policy contexts in order to incorporate tangible and actionable community knowledge, ultimately driving increased investments in resilience in fragile settings and changing the ways we govern climate mobility.

• 'Accelerating the transition from humanitarian aid to climate finance'

17 November, 11:30-12:15 / Nordic Pavilion

SPARC researchers will speak at this interactive discussion on how humanitarian and restoration actors, and public and private donors, can accelerate the shift from aid dependency to climate and impact finance in fragile contexts. It is organized by the Norway Refugee Council and the Building Resilient Communities in Somalia (BrCis) Consortium, with support from CIFOR ICRAF.

• ‘Scaling up climate action in conflict settings'  

17 November, 13:15-14:45 / Side Event Room 2 

This official UNFCCC side event, coorganised by SPARC partner ODI Global and the Interntional Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), will bring together key constituencies involved in climate action in conflict-affected settings. It aims to focus the many conversations taking place at COP – on climate finance, adaptation, loss and damage, and other global workstreams – on those people communities who feel climate shocks so deeply, and who remain underserved by global climate action. 

• From crisis response to climate ready: strengthening food systems in fragile contexts

19 November, 14:45-16:45 / Action on Food Hub

This session, coorganised by SPARC partner Mercy Corps, explores how food systems — spanning production, processing, and consumption — can become a powerful vehicle for climate adaptation and co-benefits, advancing food security, livelihoods, and emissions reduction at once, even in places historically dependent on humanitarian aid.