Expo 2020 Dubai’s Climate and Biodiversity Week to galvanise global action to protect our planet

• Virtual event takes place a year ahead of Expo, with 40+ expert speakers participating  

• Sessions to cover climate change, protecting biodiversity and sustainable architecture  

• Climate and Biodiversity is second of 10 weeks focusing on key global challenges

The Expo 2020 Press Kit, including images, infographic and videography, can be found here.

A line-up of experts, change-makers and industry leaders will join forces with Expo 2020 Dubai for Expo’s Climate and Biodiversity Week, taking audiences on a virtual journey towards urgent, decisive action on climate change and preserving biodiversity.

Expo 2020 Dubai, which opens on 1 October 2021, aims to provide a global forum for discussion, collaboration and agreement on some of the biggest challenges facing humanity, and Climate and Biodiversity Week is the second in a series of weeks where policy makers, experts, Expo participants and the public are able to come together ahead of the global mega event to explore these challenges and discuss ideas that can be developed at Expo 2020.  

Hosted by Expo 2020 and delivered in collaboration with Expo’s Premier Global Trade Partner DP World, the digital Climate and Biodiversity Week will take place on 20-21 October 2020, featuring keynote remarks from Her Excellency Reem Al Hashimy, Director General of Expo 2020 Dubai Bureau and UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation and His Excellency Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO of DP World.  

The notable guest list includes Her Excellency Razan Al Mubarak, Managing Director of the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi; Sir Tim Smit KBE, Co-Founder of the Eden Project; and Paula J. Ehrlich, President and CEO of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation.

Climate and Biodiversity Week follows the announcement earlier this month of Expo 2020 and DP World becoming a Global Alliance Founding Partner of The Earthshot Prize. The huge global environment initiative – the most ambitious environmental prize in history – was founded by the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and established by Prince William. It seeks to incentivise action to repair our planet and improve life on Earth for generations to come.

Her Excellency Reem Al Hashimy, Director General of Expo 2020 Dubai Bureau and UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation, said: “Humanity’s success in overcoming climate change and biodiversity loss – which collectively pose an existential threat to life on our delicate planet – depends on the world coming together. Expo 2020 is inviting the most inspiring and ambitious minds from around the world to collaborate on how we can tackle two of our most urgent global challenges for the sake of nature and humanity.”

Featuring Q&A sessions and panel discussions, Expo 2020’s Climate and Biodiversity Week is the second in a series of events – launched earlier this month with Space Week – that will shape the thought-provoking content and conversations taking place during Expo 2020.

It will bring together numerous members of the Expo family, including Expo 2020’s participating nations, Official Partners and the general public, who can find out more at expo2020dubai.com/en/expo-talks/climate-week

Climate and Biodiversity Week is one of 10 thematic weeks that will also be held during the six months of the Expo to explore collaborative solutions to key pressing issues, including Global Goals; Knowledge and Learning; Space; and Water. These theme weeks further underline Expo 2020’s commitment to encouraging collaboration and cooperation to resolve some of the world’s most pressing challenges.  

Expo 2020 Dubai – the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region – will run from 1 October 2021 until 31 March 2022.

About Expo 2020 Dubai  

Expo 2020 Dubai will bring together millions of people and the greatest innovations from around the globe, helping to shape a better world under the theme ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’.  

• The six months from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022 will be an opportunity to be part of an unparalleled event and we are extending a warm Emirati welcome to the world  

• Expo 2020 will be an endless journey of discovery. Visitors will have access to the latest innovations and breakthroughs, with participants – including nations, multilateral organisations, businesses and educational institutions – coming together to highlight real-life solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges

• Expo 2020’s sub-themes of Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability will inspire visitors to make a conscious effort to think and live differently, and give them renewed optimism that, through collaboration, it is possible to make a lasting change to the world

• The first World Expo to take place in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) will be located on a 4.38 sqkm site adjacent to Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai South  

About World Expos

In 1851 the Crystal Palace was the centrepiece of London’s Great Exhibition – the first World Expo. It celebrated the man-made industrial wonders of a rapidly changing world. Architecture, contents and a theme, ‘Industry of All Nations’, were combined to create a big idea of nations meeting nations in shared technological and commercial progress. In more recent years, participants in World Expos, including governments, international organisations and companies, have gathered to find solutions to universal challenges and to promote their achievements, products, ideas, innovations, their national brand, and their nations as destinations for tourism, trade and investment.  

World Expos are held under the auspices of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), the intergovernmental organisation responsible for overseeing and regulating international exhibitions (‘Expos’) and for fostering their core values of Education, Innovation and Cooperation. Today, four types of Expos are organised under the BIE’s auspices: World Expos, Specialised Expos, Horticultural Expos and the Triennale di Milano.