*[Enwl-eng] here is the latest news from the High-Level Champions!
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Mon Aug 1 19:46:45 MSK 2022
UN Global Climate Action
1 August 2022
High Level Climate Champions
Newsletter
Climate Investor Roadshow Starts in Africa
A series of regional forums kicks off in
Addis Ababa today, aimed at accelerating financial flows to the projects
needed to accelerate financial flows to the projects needed to reduce
emissions, build climate resilience and advance the 2030 Sustainable
Development Goals.
These roundtables – titled Towards COP27:
Regional Forums on Climate Initiatives to Finance Climate Action and the
SDGs – take place across Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and
the Caribbean and are hosted by the incoming Egyptian COP27 Presidency, the
UN Regional Commissions and the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions.
Developing countries entered the Covid-19
crisis with significantly bigger debt vulnerabilities than at the start of
the 2008 financial crisis, leaving them with constrained fiscal space in
which to build resilience to climate impacts and respond to the pandemic.
Meanwhile, developed countries and private
sector investors have yet to deliver the US$100 billion per year of climate
finance promised by 2020. The Africa Group of negotiators has called for
US$1.3 trillion per year to be made available from 2025.
The regional forums will convene countries
looking to raise capital for critical climate projects and initiatives,
along with significant financial institutions such as regional development
banks and members of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero. They will
look at how best to de-risk investments in developing countries and help
countries present their investment-ready projects.
The schedule of forums is:
Addis Ababa, Egypt: 2-4 August (register
here)
Bangkok, Thailand: 25 August
Santiago, Chile: 1-2 September
Beirut, Lebanon: 15 September
Geneva, Switzerland: 20 September
Building for Resilience
City life around the world is being pushed
to the brink by extreme, unbearable temperatures and the havoc they wreak.
In the past month alone, Shanghai issued its
highest alert for extreme heat for the third time this summer, requiring
construction and other outdoor work to be reduced or paused. London saw the
highest number of fires since World War II, and flights at Luton Airport
halted due to a melted runway, as the capital breached a record 40 degrees
Celsius. Tehran experienced power outages due to a heatwave, compounded by a
severe drought that pushed up power prices.
If this continues, major urban hubs will
become unlivable in the coming decades, even as their populations multiply.
Cities in developing and emerging economies are most at risk. We can avoid
the worst impacts, by designing future built environments to be more
resilient to climate change impacts and fit for a zero-emissions economy by
2050.
The buildings and construction sector is
responsible for nearly 40% of energy- and process-related carbon emissions.
That footprint is set to grow, with two-thirds of people expected to live in
cities by 2060. In Africa, the floor area is expected to more than double by
2050. But only half of the urban fabric needed to accommodate this influx
has so far been built. So the decisions businesses, investors, cities,
regions and national governments take today will determine how liveable and
resilient the built environment becomes.
To reach net zero by 2050, all new buildings
need to operate with net-zero emissions, whilst reducing the buildings’
embodied emissions, by 2030, according to the Race to Zero’s Breakthroughs
report. Given the lag time of around five years between design and
completion of a large building, change must start now.
This makes sound business sense. The shift
to green buildings in emerging markets alone offers a US$24.7 trillion
investment opportunity, and can spur sustainable development, according to
the International Finance Corporation. Green buildings also offer sales
premiums of up to one-third higher than traditional buildings, and sell
faster. Their lower water and power consumption reduces operational costs by
as much as 37%. And their construction can create millions of skilled jobs,
and lead to improved health, equity and resilience.
It will also save lives. Some 1 billion live
in informal settlements in homes that are vulnerable to climate change, many
with an iron roof that leaks when it rains and in a heatwave can feel like
it’s cooking you. Yet little attention is given to this challenge of
improving existing homes and building new ones in informal settlements. Roof
Over Our Head, a new initiative led by Slum Dwellers International, is
working to meet this challenge by bringing communities, cities, architects,
industry and financiers together.
Built Environment Action
The shift towards greener, more resilient
urban hubs picked up ahead of COP26 – but it needs to accelerate.
The High-Level Champions worked with a
coalition of business and government groups to establish 26 climate action
initiatives announced for the sector at COP26. Among those, 44 developers,
designers and asset managers representing US$85 billion in annual turnover
signed the World Green Building Council’s commitment to reduce energy
consumption, eliminate emissions from energy and refrigerants, and reduce
embodied carbon from new developments and renovations by 2030 and ensure
that all buildings reach net zero operational carbon by 2050.
More businesses have signed up to the
commitment since COP26, including Africa Logistics Properties which
acquires, develops and manages warehouses in East Africa; Deutsche Bank,
which has over 6000 buildings in its portfolio; and Schneider Electric,
according to a recent status report by the World Green Building Council.
Governments are acting too. Austria has
brought forward a sales ban on new gas boilers by two years to 2023,
following similar moves by the Netherlands and Germany. Colombia has
launched a national roadmap for zero-carbon buildings by 2050, and 33 US
states and local governments have launched a coalition dedicated to creating
cleaner, healthier and more affordable buildings.
Recognizing that much of the growth will be
in Africa, the World Green Building Council’s Africa Regional Network is
developing a manifesto for sustainable cities and built environments on the
continent, which will be released in the lead up to COP27. It makes
recommendations across five areas: energy, water, materials, finance and
infrastructure. The draft manifesto is now open for public consultation,
with written comments due by 18 August through this form. This will be
followed by regional roundtables ahead of COP27.
Latin America & the Caribbean Climate Week
July’s Latin America and the Caribbean
Climate Week in Santo Domingo brought together over 1,700 participants from
governments, multilateral organizations, the private sector and civil
society, with events ranging from climate finance to the building of
resilience to climate change impacts.
The Champions hosted two Marrakech
Partnership deep-dive workshops. The Implementation Lab, which looked at how
infrastructure plans and financial flows can benefit strengthening coastal
resilience while accelerating emission reductions in the region. The
Regionalization Workshop saw Mahmoud Mohieldin, the COP27 High-Level
Champion, and Raquel Moses, Global Ambassador for the Race to Zero and Race
to Resilience, share the five-year plan for enhancing the Marrakech
Partnership’s ambition.
The Champions also convened a session on
collaborative solutions for non-State action after impacts, highlighting the
role of businesses in increasing resilience and shifting the focus from
philanthropy to investment, as well as an open dialogue on the urgency of
accelerating financial flows for mitigation and adaptation in the region and
showing the immediate implementation of NDCs. The Champions also opened an
event on the Global Stocktake, which underlined the importance of
inclusiveness, regional balance and forward-looking opportunities.
Mahmoud Mohieldin took part in the Climate
Week’s opening and received the week’s outcomes from Dominican Republic
Acting Environment Minister Milagros De Camps at the end, committing to take
the region’s perspectives forward.
Latin America and the Caribbean have already
been hit by impacts such as drought, glacier melt, extreme rainfall and
deforestation, according to a World Meteorological Organization report
released during the week.
You can watch all the week’s events here.
Registration is now open for the next
regional climate week, Africa Climate Week, from 29 August to 2 September in
Libreville, Gabon.
Keeping Up With The Champions
a.. Businesses, investors and governments
that are serious about fulfilling net-zero emissions pledges should be
rushing to protect, conserve and regenerate nature – yet the trailblazers
are still worryingly scarce, Nigel Topping and Mahmoud Mohieldin wrote in
Project Syndicate.
a.. Mahmoud Mohieldin spoke at the UN’s The
Africa We Want conference, in a roundtable on preparing for an African
COP27. He emphasized the importance of addressing the special needs of
developing countries in mitigation, adaptation and implementation.
a.. On the sides of the Sydney Energy Forum,
Mahmoud Mohieldin met Australia’s Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen and
invited him to participate in COP27. He also met other government officials
and business leaders to discuss mobilizing climate investments in Africa and
emerging markets.
a.. In Singapore, Mahmoud Mohieldin
discussed climate finance, including mobilizing investments and setting up
carbon markets in Africa, with Teo Chee Hean, the Coordinating Minister for
National Security and Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Climate
Change, and Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the Coordinating Minister for Social
Policies. He also met the Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore
and Chair of the APAC GFANZ network advisory board, Ravi Menon, CEO of the
Singapore Stock Exchange Boon-Chye Loh, and representatives from Singapore’s
Sovereign Wealth Fund, Temasek.
a.. In Cairo, Mahmoud Mohieldin met
representatives from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development,
and discussed how the bank can support the Champions’ objectives for COP27.
Efforts include helping to mobilize the private sector and supporting
localization initiatives.
a.. Mahmoud Mohieldin attended a roundtable
with renewable energy executives including the Global Wind Energy Council,
Siemens Gamesa, Iberdrola, General Electric, and Lekela Power Egypt, where
they discussed the important role that wind energy firms can play in the
energy transition and COP27’s potential to be an implementation COP.
a.. Mahmoud Mohieldin met with Seteve
Varley, the Vice Chair for Sustainability at Ernst & Young (EY) Global, and
participants from the Egyptian and UK office, and discussed how EY can
support the goals and initiatives of the champions on the road to COP27.
a.. Commenting in The Times on the UK’s
political leadership race, Nigel Topping warned that any candidates wanting
to water down the national net-zero emissions commitment, and supporting
interim targets for 2030, is not serious about the UK’s future.
In Case You Missed It
● The Champions and Marrakech
Partnership today published their thematic programme for COP27, mirroring
the incoming COP27 Presidency’s programme. Thematic days include finance;
science; adaptation and agriculture; energy and gender; and biodiversity,
youth and future generations.
● The UN Secretary-General’s Expert
Group on the Net-Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities has opened
a public consultation seeking ideas on how to ensure that net-zero pledges
are credible and matched by concrete action. Submissions are due by 31
August through this portal.
● The chairs of the UNFCCC Subsidiary
Bodies are calling for all stakeholders to submit inputs to the first Global
Stocktake, a process designed to assess collective progress towards
achieving the Paris Agreement. Inputs are due by 6 August.
● The UN General Assembly has
officially recognized the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable
environment. The last time the UN recognized a new human right – to water –
in 2010, it spurred new action and protection around the world.
● A Western-dominated debate on
reducing emissions needs to include ways to adapt to climate change and
broaden energy access in Africa, according to a report by the Mo Ibrahim
Foundation. Financial pledges for adaptation remain “small and most
unrealized”, and the majority of global financing goes to industrialized
middle-income countries for mitigation, it found.
● New UN-backed guidelines aim to
protect, include and empower children who are forced to flee their homes due
to the climate crisis. Nearly 10 million children were displaced due to
weather-related shocks in 2020.
● Egypt, host of COP27 in Sharm
El-Sheikh, has submitted an updated Nationally Determined Contribution
covering key sectors including energy, industry and buildings, aligned with
the country’s development and climate policies.
● African countries command a
significant share of the global industry that has become integral to
billions of people’s lives – coffee. Yet, there is no guarantee that African
coffee farmers will reap their fair share of benefits from efforts to
develop a continental free trade area, which also faces risks from climate
change, Bogolo Kenewendo, the Champions team’s Africa director, wrote in
Project Syndicate.
● Converging shocks to global food
security have exposed fragilities in global food systems, which urgently
need to be made more resilient, Agnes Kalibata, former UN special envoy for
the 2021 Food Systems Summit and global ambassador for the High-Level
Champions, wrote in Project Syndicate.
● Carbon capture and utilization or
storage should play three vital but limited roles in the energy transition,
according to the Energy Transitions Commission: decarbonize sectors where
alternatives are technically limited such as industrial processes; deliver
carbon removals needed in addition to rapid emission cuts; provide a
low-cost decarbonization solution in sectors and regions where CCUS is
economically attractive.
For more news from across the High-Level
Champions’ community, visit climatechampions.unfccc.int.
Mark Your Calendars
a.. International Day of World’s Indigenous
Peoples: 9 August
b.. World Water Week: 23 August-1 September
c.. Africa Climate Week: 29 August-2
September
d.. International Day of Clean Air for blue
skies: 7 September
e.. Tipping Points: From Climate Crisis to
Positive Transformation: 12-14 September
f.. UN General Assembly: 13-27 September
g.. Under2 Coalition General Assembly: 19
September
h.. Uniting Business LIVE: 19-21 September
i.. Climate Week NYC: 19-25 September
j.. Towards COP27: UNECE Forum on regional
cooperation on enhancing sustainable management and financing for the
critical raw materials required for low-carbon transitions: 20 September
k.. Global Clean Energy Action Forum: 21-23
September
l.. Daring Cities 2022: 3-7 October
m.. OECD Forum on Green Finance and
Investment: 5-7 October
n.. 2022 Daejeon United Cities and Local
Governments (UCLG) World Congress: 10-14 October
o.. IMF-World Bank Autumn Meetings: 14-16
October
p.. World Food Day 2022: 16 October
q.. World Health Summit 2022: 16-18 October
r.. C40 World Mayors Summit: 19-21 October
s.. G20 Leaders’ Summit: 30-31 October
t.. COP27: 6-18 November
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From: Global Climate Action
Sent: Monday, August 01, 2022 6:34 PM
Subject: Vladimir, here is the latest news from the
High-Level Champions!
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