*[Enwl-eng] here is the latest news from the High-level Climate Champions!
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UN Global Climate Action
28 February 2022
High Level Climate Champions
Newsletter
A Warm Welcome to the COP27 UN Climate Change High-Level Champion!
We are delighted to welcome Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, the new UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for Egypt, and look forward to building on the groundswell of climate action seen at COP26.
Dr. Mohieldin is an economist with more than 30 years of experience in international finance and development. He is an Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund and has been the United Nations Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda since February 2020.
The role of the High-Level Champion was created in 2015 at COP21 in Paris to help realise the ambitions of governments to lower carbon emissions and build resilience to climate change. The Champions specifically bridge the work of governments with the many voluntary and collaborative actions taken by cities, regions, businesses, investors and civil society.
Resilience in an Era of Climate Change
Today’s latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report confirms unequivocally that ever more extreme heatwaves, floods, droughts, wildfires and other impacts caused by climate change are endangering people’s health, safety, jobs and livelihoods.
The research, from the world’s top climate scientists, finds that the world faces “unavoidable multiple climate hazards” over the next two decades, with global warming to 1.5°C. The weather extremes we are already experiencing are exposing millions of people to acute food and water insecurity, especially in Africa, Asia, Latin America and on small islands in the Arctic.
Cities are at particular risk, holding more than half the world’s population, it finds. Public health, lives and livelihoods, as well as homes, energy and transport systems and other critical infrastructure are increasingly affected by heatwaves, storms, drought, flooding, rising sea levels and other impacts.
These findings make clear the imperative to build systemic resilience to the consequences that are now unavoidable, parallel with and in connection to, rapid emission reductions. With a small, narrowing and challenging window in which to build resilience, it also makes clear the need to make November’s COP27 summit in Egypt a moment that drives climate justice for the countries and communities most at-risk, in Africa and around the world.
The bottom line is that, unless emissions are cut faster than governments currently plan to, climate-driven damages will worsen rapidly and parts of the planet will become increasingly uninhabitable. The UN Climate Change High-Level Champions’ flagship campaigns – Race to Resilience and Race to Zero – are vehicles for tackling these twin objectives, mobilizing businesses, investors, cities and regions to set and implement robust targets for action in the 2020s.
The Business of Resilience
Climate action has traditionally focused on reducing emissions. Resilience and adaptation only draw about 20% of climate finance, while 80% goes to mitigation, according to the UN.
That focus on mitigation may have made sense when the climate crisis was still a far-away threat. But as today’s IPCC report shows, the crisis is already unfolding. In 2022, we have already seen deadly floods in Southeast Africa, the worst drought in 1,200 years in the western US, and a power grid failure caused by record heat in Argentina. Shocks like these ripple across the economy, triggering food and supply chain shortages, infrastructure destruction, death, public health emergencies and the loss of homes and livelihoods.
That’s why resilience is everyone’s business. Whether you’re a business, investor, city, region or government, your strategies and investments for reaching net zero emissions before 2050 must be rooted in the principle of resilience. Agriculture can become regenerative to improve water retention, soil health and biodiversity. Homes and cities can be fortified against floods and extreme temperatures. And mangroves and forests can be regenerated to protect against rising sea levels, rain and heat.
The Race to Resilience partners are working to scale up investment and innovation in this kind of work within the 2020s.
Among them, Scale for Resilience, aims to provide 3 million smallholder farmers with access to nature-based solutions, and the conditions to finance them. It uses digital communications tools to assess and report a smallholder’s needs in relation to climate change, and finance the right nature-based solutions.
BFA Global, a consulting firm, has created a multi-agency taskforce with a digital finance framework that enables vulnerable communities to anticipate, adapt and build resilience to the physical impacts of climate change.
DARAJA, meanwhile, is innovating the use of data, telecommunications and local media to improve weather and information services, including early warning systems for extreme weather for urban areas. Its proven model has created inclusive city-community forecasting and early warning services, providing information directly to users in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It’s also being piloted in Kingston, Jamaica.
Reminder: Call for inputs for the first global stocktake
Deadline end of February
The global stocktake of the Paris Agreement is a process designed to assess the world’s collective progress towards achieving the purpose of the agreement and its long-term goals every five years. As part of the first global stocktake, the chairs of the UNFCCC’s Subsidiary Bodies opened a call last September for Parties and non-Party stakeholders to submit their inputs before the end of February 2022. Further details on how to do so can be found here.
In Case You Missed It
a.. The Champions and Expert Peer Review Group are delighted to have confirmed the people who will be contributing to this year’s criteria consultation for the Race to Zero. These experts, scientists, academics and practitioners will help us drive further convergence around best practices for climate action.
a.. Wildfires are becoming more intense and more frequent, and are set to continue growing worldwide as a result of climate change and land-use change, according to the UN Environment Programme. Extreme fires are devastating to people, biodiversity and ecosystems and exacerbating climate change by releasing greenhouse gas emissions.
a.. The world is spending at least US$1.8 trillion a year, or 2% of GDP, on subsidies that are driving the destruction of nature and species extinction, according to research from The B Team and Business for Nature. The fossil fuel, agriculture and water industries receive more than 80% of all environmentally harmful subsidies per year, it found.
a.. Wind energy can help governments accelerate a green economic recovery and form a bedrock for sustainable economic growth, according to the Global Wind Energy Council. The benefits of wind energy extend beyond clean power to sustainable job creation, public health cost savings, water consumption savings and capital injection in local value chains.
a.. The World Council of Churches and other international faith organizations are pressing the financial sector to adopt moral standards to address climate change that would steer assets away from fossil fuels.
a.. European cities need to make significant improvements in order to achieve zero-emission mobility by 2030, according to a Clean Cities Campaign analysis of 36 cities. It found that local decarbonization measures make a big difference, and that better data and monitoring is needed.
a.. IRENA, in partnership with the African Development Bank, has published a report highlighting the opportunities and challenges facing Africa in the renewable energy transition and the pathway to a renewables-based energy system.
a.. At the World Sustainable Development Summit, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa underlined the critical role of the multilateral process in climate change agreements, stating that multilateralism remains “the world’s vehicle for addressing climate change”.
a.. The UN High-Level Climate Champions team is hiring! Check out these roles, and help us keep up the momentum in the run-up to COP27.
For more news and features from around the Race to Resilience and Race to Zero community, visit climatechampions.unfccc.int.
Mark Your Calendars
a.. Mobile World Congress: 28 February - 3 March
b.. Fifth session of the UN Environment Assembly: 28 February - 2 March
c.. World Ocean Summit : 1 - 4 March
d.. ICG’s event ‘Why is women’s empowerment key to fighting climate change?: 8 March
e.. International Day of Forests: 21 March
f.. Raisina Dialogue, New Delhi: 21 - 23 March
g.. Gobeshona Global Conference: Exploring Locally Led Adaptation & Resilience for COP27: 27 March - 1 April
h.. Middle East and North Africa Climate Week: 28 - 31 March
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Sent: Monday, February 28, 2022 3:47 PM
Subject: Vladimir, here is the latest news from the High-level Climate Champions
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