The Bocconian team on the podium of the Whiteshield Competition
Closing a financial gap to help tackle climate change. This was the successful proposal that helped the Bocconi team place second in the Global Public Policy Competition, organized by Whiteshield Partners, a global strategy and public policy firm, to explore the potential of the young generation to address today's global policy challenges.
The four students of the team - Carla Bertrand, Loris Cera, Timothy Randall and Selim Tira - are students of the Bocconi-Sciences Po Double Degree in the area of European and International Public Policy and Politics and competed against teams from Harvard Kennedy School, London School of Economics, HEC Paris, Stanford University, Cambridge University and ESADE.
"Participation appealed to us because it was based on an interesting link between economics and public policy and we could also put to use our backgrounds in geopolitics and international relations. We wanted to see where we could arrive trying to find solutions to global problems using our skills," explains Loris Cera.
The task set to the teams was to come up with and develop a new global policy initiative for tackling climate change that could be adopted at COP27 in Cairo this year – putting forward a detailed proposal with context, the key challenges to address and the proposed response including action plan and budget.
"We worked on proposals to further push and develop Nature Based Solutions (NBS) as we seem them as essential to help tackle climate change and biodiversity," explains Loris. "In general, NBSs are still underfinanced and we proposed some solutions to help build a strong pipeline of bankable NBS projects and help financing by mobilizing private capital through promoting blended financing,"
The teams presented their ideas to a panel with Fadi Farra, Founder and Partner of Whiteshield Partners, and members of the Senior Leadership team who, impressed by presentation, feasibility and quality of the project, awarded the Bocconi team second place.
"It was a great experience. We made the most our different backgrounds and used the complementarity of our studies in Milan and Paris and saw how they can be put to use to help face real international problems," says Loris. "And after an interview process me and Selim have been offered full-time positions at Whiteshield in Dubai."