We are pleased to share this year’s COP programming – our busiest to date! COP30 Brasil Amazônia, taking place in Belém, Brazil, focuses on transforming existing climate commitments into concrete action, with an emphasis on implementation, climate finance, a just energy transition, and protection of the Amazon. In alignment with these priorities, as global advocacy platform for the engineering community, ICSI will contribute to discussions on how to advance climate-resilient infrastructure, highlighting nature- and people-positive engineering approaches and the importance of Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) in building sustainable and inclusive resilience.
COP30 offers a unique opportunity to build new collaborations and strengthen existing partnerships, and we are honoured to be part of this global effort. ICSI is convening sessions with international stakeholders in the official COP30 Action Area, as well as at the Resilience Hub and the Disaster Resilient Infrastructure Pavilions.
We are kicking off our COP programme with a virtual event:
- COP30 Webinar – ISLe Learning Hub – Transforming Engineering Education for a just, sustainable and resilient future
📅10 Nov
⏰ 15:00 – 16:15 (GMT)
📍 Virtual, Register here
Engineering education sits at a critical juncture. Engineering schools need to rapidly update their curricula and develop new courses to teach the upcoming generation of engineers to think holistically in order to meet complex and interconnected crises such as climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, while ensuring that future development is just, sustainable, resilient and leaves no one behind. The decisions we make now about how engineers are educated – what they learn, how they learn, the values and competencies they carry – will determine whether infrastructure is built resiliently, equitably, and in harmony with nature, or whether business-as-usual persists.
This COP30-timed session is part of the Transforming Engineering Education ISLe Learning Hub, a virtual learning platform to catalyse the development of best practice guidelines and case studies for designing and enhancing the inclusion of climate resilience and sustainability topics in engineering higher education.
- Official COP30 Action Agenda event – Sustainable Built Environment Panel: Nature-and-People-Positive Infrastructure for Resilient Urban Growth
📅 14 Nov
⏰ 12:30 – 13:30 (BRT)
📍 COP30 Blue Zone, Axis 4 Thematic Room
This session that is part of the COP30 official Action Agenda programme will be co-hosted with Sustainable Business COP and it will examine scalable, high-integrity pathways for resilient, inclusive, nature- and people-positive urban infrastructure, linking engineering, finance, and policy via concrete cases to enable replicable near-term delivery.
- Co-Designing Infrastructure with Nature and Communities
📅 15 Nov
⏰ 09:30 – 10:30 (BRT)
📍 Resilience Hub Pavilion, COP30 Blue Zone, Livestreamed here
This session, co-hosted with Bentley Systems, Mahila Housing Trust, and UN University, brings together engineers, planners, technology specialists and community leaders to explore how a co-designed, nature-positive infrastructure can align climate, biodiversity, development and equity goals. Participants will share lived experiences, testing approaches, and reflecting on how to embed standards, digital tools, and community knowledge into decision making, ultimately enhancing the resilience of infrastructure and reducing vulnerability for both people and nature.
- Official COP30 Action Agenda event – Closed-door workshop: Plan to Accelerate Solution (PAS) for Resilient and Adaptive Transport Infrastructure
📅 15 Nov
⏰ 12:30 – 13:30 (BRT)
📍 COP30 Blue Zone
The session aims to bring together a group of key stakeholders from the transport sector to engage in focused discussions, identify collaborative opportunities, and build momentum for implementing the Plan to Accelerate Solution (PAS) for Resilient and Adaptive Transport Infrastructure through actionable partnerships.
- Building Resilience for All: Integrating GEDSI into Infrastructure
📅 17 Nov
⏰ 15:15 – 16:15 (BRT)
📍 DRI Pavilion, COP30 Blue Zone
This session, co-hosted with the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy will examine how integrating Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) throughout the infrastructure development lifecycle can drive more equitable outcomes for climate resilience, ensuring infrastructure leaves no one behind. This session will explore the links between GEDSI and disaster-resilient infrastructure (DRI) and identify practical pathways for greater integration through policy, strategy, standards, and indicators.
- Official COP30 side event – Engineering for Climate Resilience: Water Planning, Energy Transition, Biodiversity Gain
📅18 Nov
⏰ 15:00 – 16:30 (BRT)
📍 COP30 Side Event Room 7, Livestreamed here
This side event, co-hosted with the World Federation of Engineering Organizations, the Engineering Institute of Canada, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the Institution of Engineering and Technology, will explore critical infrastructure resilience in the face of a changing climate. It will include discussions on public tools for hydrological projections in water-stressed islands; energy transition through electrification, distributed energy resources, and digital access; and regenerative design for nature and community resilience.
- Global priorities for Disaster-Resilient Infrastructure: Insights from the Global Infrastructure Resilience Survey (GIRS)
📅18 Nov
⏰ 17:00 – 18:00 (BRT)
📍 DRI Pavilion, COP30 Blue Zone
This session, co-hosted with the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC), will present insights from the Global Infrastructure Resilience Survey (GIRS), identifying global priorities for disaster-resilient infrastructure. Drawing on practitioner perspectives worldwide, the survey results will highlight the institutional, policy, and technical capacities needed to adapt to evolving risks. A fireside chat and panel will examine the findings of the GIRS and will explore practical, evidence-based actions to strengthen resilience across diverse regions and contexts.
We also look forward to speaking at several COP30 Blue Zone events that highlight global progress and innovation in climate resilience. These include: “Race to Resilience: From Pledges to Implementation – Launch of the 2025 Progress Report” at the Resilience Hub Pavilion, showcasing tangible outcomes in resilience implementation; “Building with Nature: A Global Community Advancing Green-Gray Infrastructure for Resilient Adaptation”, emphasising the role of nature-based and hybrid infrastructure solutions; and “Rethinking Coastal Resilience: Unifying Science, Engineering and Finance, exploring integrated approaches to protecting coastal communities at the DRI Pavilion.
