COP29: Advancing Action on Informal Housing, Celebrating New Partnerships, and Building a Climate-Resilient Future

COP29 drove forward a number of encouraging initiatives and reasons for hope and optimism for climate-vulnerable communities despite concerns that continue to hang in the balance. Ongoing negotiations have serious implications on loss and damage funds, and by extension those living in vulnerable housing. Build Change advocacy wins for these communities continued during our fourth participation in COP, including:

• Strengthening policy action for informal housing at the High-Level Champions’ Special Event on Informality. The High Level Climate Champions hosted a first-of-its kind event on empowering people living in informality, highlighting the actions Build Change and other organizations are taking to improve living conditions in informality. We shared the stage with impact makers across the sector and highlighted our policy efforts in Colombia and the Philippines.  The High-Level Climate Champions also announced the launch of a Working Group on Informality under the Marrakech Partnership, which will include Build Change. Housing justice is climate justice, and we hope this initiative and others like it continue to recognize and codify this sentiment into tangible action.

• Championing disaster resilience and risk reduction as climate action. The State Minister of Defence of the Maldives, Aishath Safoora, joined us for a discussion we convened on shelter and equity. She highlighted that the Maldives contributes less than 0.003% of global emissions but faces immense loss and damage, providing context for data stemming from Cities Alliance’s new report, showing only 3.5% of all global climate funds support the urban poor. These reflections underscore the need for further investment in climate-affected communities, especially small island developing states (SIDS). Leveraging experience in 16 SIDS during our 20 Years of Impact, Build Change is embarking on new partnerships with the Ministries of Education in the Maldives and Comoros to create more resilient schools. These projects are part of a broader $8 million investment the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) – one of our key partners – announced at COP29 to strengthen SIDS infrastructure.

• Driving innovation and action with private-sector partners. The private sector will continue to be an integral part of climate solutions, and can play a transformative role in industry transformation in the built environment. A conversation hosted by the Global Concrete and Cement Association focused on the need for radical collaboration to create systemic solutions and highlighted Build Change’s cross-sectoral partnership with Holcim and ASKI in the Philippines. Our technical assistance platform BCtap demonstrates the power of integrating data and tools from technology leaders like Autodesk and magicplan.

• Keeping up momentum for a housing-centered resilience action agenda across sectors. Two reports released at COP29 highlight the progress made by Build Change and our Climate Resilient Housing Initiative: the Sharm El Sheikh Adaptation Agenda 2024 Implementation Report and the Race to Resilience in Action: 2024 Update. Build also Change advanced support for our campaign to Make Housing Its Own SDG through events and bilateral discussions at COP29.

Where do we go from here?

The need for sufficient finance to support those living in inadequate housing has never been clearer. As countries revise their NDCs next year, a clear signal from COP29 on loss and damage funds would incentivize them to take tangible action on housing. That’s what we’re hoping for out of COP29, and in the meantime, we are optimistic about the action being driven by non-state actors.

Housing is a climate mitigation and adaptation solution. Investing in disaster-resilient housing is a tangible – and critical – path toward safety in the face of climate hazards and advancing outcomes in all aspects of human development.