Rio Innovation Week: Camila Pontual from Columbia’s Climate Hub Rio Participates in Panel on Urban Climate Adaptation and Financing

Climate Hub Rio’s Climate Program Manager Camila Pontual spoke on a panel to discuss urban adaptation to climate change. The roundtable also featured Thalyta Ferraz, an international analyst for the City of Rio, and Maria Fernanda Lemos, a professor at PUC-Rio and a researcher working with the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN) and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The panel was moderated by Giorgia Costa do Val, who is an international analyst for the City of Rio.

Ms. Pontual emphasized the critical importance of collaboration between governments and academia, particularly in addressing climate issues. She noted the unfortunate reality that Brazil and the world are lagging in urban climate action. The government-university partnership proposed could be the most effective way to mitigate the consequences of our delayed response.

“We have very little time to address the climate crisis, mitigate its impacts, and make our cities more adaptive and resilient to adverse effects. Given the limited time, it is even more crucial that we harness the best science and the most accurate data so that public officials, who will be making the decisions, have the best possible information to formulate the most effective public policies”, she added.

During the event, the panelists addressed some important aspects of urban adaptation against climate events and its effects, such as the significance of prioritizing the most vulnerable populations when it comes to planning and how the Global South should take a leading role in negotiations related to climate funding. 

Though most of the vulnerable populations reside in the Global South, the Global North absorbs around 80% of the total amount invested in climate adaptations. As well, the most developed countries from the Global North underwent earlier industrialization processes and, thus, these countries are more responsible for the emission of greenhouse gasses. Ms. Pontual also added that this North-South disparity is even more pronounced when we look at smaller cities instead of only the larger ones.

Brazil is set to host both the G20 Summit (Rio de Janeiro, November 2024) and the COP-30 (Belem do Pará, November 2025). According to the speakers on this panel, these events will be a turning point in shifting the leadership of the global climate debate from the North to the Global South, with Brazil playing a pivotal role.

Another key point of the discussion was regarding the financing barriers faced in adapting to climate change. In Brazil, for example, the current legislation is rigid and is not effective enough to allow preventive planning when building new infrastructure. When it comes to funding itself,  international lending institutions have requirements that are quite stringent, significantly limiting loan approvals—e.g. cities can be downgraded even if they are reliable payers when their countries have a history of defaulting. High levels of bureaucracy to apply for funding are very difficult for smaller cities and towns to navigate as well. Therefore, streamlining financial flows by reducing bureaucracy and easing pre-credit approval requirements for smaller cities is essential.

Lastly, Pontual emphasized the significance of platforms like Rio Innovation Week in advancing the conversation on critical climate concerns while serving as a venue to facilitate meaningful discussions and to highlight pressing issues. She sees this type of stage as a fertile ground for the emergence of new and innovative ideas.

"Events like Rio Innovation Week are essential for us not only to discuss our ongoing work, showcase the advancements, and highlight the research that the University has been conducting—always in collaboration with Brazilian professors and institutions—but also to engage in debates on topics that are relevant to the Rio Climate Hub’s agenda. Today, we discussed the topic of climate finance, which is one of the key areas in which we are active within the field of climate change. All the data and research we present are the result of nearly two years of dedicated work. It is crucial to understand why cities struggle to access resources, identify where the funding is, and explore the underlying issues... all of these are critical topics. Being here at one of the leading Brazilian innovation events is also an opportunity to bring these discussions to the forefront, to engage in debates, and to think of solutions", she concluded.