In November of 2021, we hosted two Climate Co-Lab events in Glasgow over COP28.
The first event, How can International Collaboration Drive Forward Our Green Economic Future? was attended by then Minister of Finance, Kate Forbes MSP, Paul Dickinson and chaired by Dr Martin Valenti, who introduced us to Diane Gilpin, Founder and CEO of Smart Green Shipping. A key point within the discussion on that day was the challenges that many start-ups and those with innovative technological solutions can face when it comes to scalability. We were therefore delighted to hear from Di earlier this year:
Over the course of COP26, Smart Green Shipping attended two Edinburgh Science Co-Lab events. As a result of the dynamic and collaborative space provided, Smart Green Shipping attracted the attention of PwC and we subsequently featured in The PwC Future Net Zero 50.
Since then we have been able to unlock the finance that allowed us to build a full scale test and demonstration FastRig windsail on the Clyde. We are proud to be playing our role in accelerating shipping’s green transition.
Co-Labs began in 2019 after we awarded Christiana Figueres the prestigious Edinburgh Medal. They are about building connections and creating opportunities for collaboration such as this, that accelerates our progression to a net zero future. It is a real source of pride for us to host Climate Co-Lab events and a pleasure to see such exciting projects moving forward at pace, in some part due to the spaces that Co-Labs create.
Last year we hosted our Climate Co-Lab events in Edinburgh, London and even at COP28 in Dubai, welcoming speakers such as Nigel Topping, Mohamed Sultan, Ambassador Patricia Espinosa, Lolita Jackson, Dame Susan Rice, Prof Susan Deacon and many more.
You can read notes from all of our Climate Co-Lab events here.
We look forward to hearing about more projects and collaborations that have been sparked by these spaces we’ve created. We offer our congratulations to Di and the team at Smart Green Shipping and are thrilled to see their next steps.
