WHEN: 3 November 2021, 13.30 (UK); 09.30 (EDT); 14.30 (CET); 16.30 (EAT)
WHERE: Climate Action Room 2, Zone B, Scottish Event Campus (SEC), Hydro, Glasgow, UK & Virtual (hybrid event)
Registration link and/or live session link (to be provided soon)
Panellists:
• Ligia Noronha, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Head of New York Office, UNEP
• Andrew Mayock, Federal Chief Sustainability Officer, White House Council on Environmental Quality, USA
• Amy Pope, Deputy Director General for Management and Reform, International Organization for Migration
• Thomas Fohgrub, Head of the Coordination Unit of the Global Platform for Action on Sustainable Energy in Displacement Settings, UNITAR
Moderator: H. R. H. Prince Jaime de Bourbon de Parme (Climate Envoy of the Netherlands)
Event Agenda (draft) *Times are local to Glasgow, Scotland.
Background
Across the globe public institutions, such as Governments, Municipalities and International Organizations are developing pathways to reduce their environmental and carbon footprint towards the shared goal of net-zero emissions. For this event, UNEP, the Greening Government Initiative (GGI), and the Global Platform for Action on Sustainable Energy in Displacement Settings (GPA) are joining forces to take stock, outline ambitions and present concrete proposals on how they could ‘walk the talk’ and can lead an energy transition globally.
The United Nations System is active in different countries around the world, both through its offices and through its programmes and initiatives. The UN System acts to reduce its environmental and climate footprint via the ‘Greening the Blue’ initiative led by UNEP with the involvement of over 50 UN entities. Via the 2020-2030 UN Sustainability Strategy, UN Entities committed to align their own practices with the IPCC 1.5°C global warming scenario, which requires an absolute 45% GHG reduction by 2030. The UN system 2020 environmental inventory data will be revealed at the event.
Similarly, the newly launched Greening Government Initiative led by the USA and Canada is demonstrating leadership through a first-of-its-kind international community of practice focused on greening national government operations that will enable countries to share lessons learned, promote innovation, and help meet Paris Agreement commitments. The Greening Government Initiative will serve as a platform for country representatives to share information and best practices, showcase success, and develop collaborative relationships with one another to accelerate national efforts to green government operations through reducing GHG emissions and enhancing climate resilience.
In the humanitarian space, the Global Platform for Action on Sustainable Energy in Displacement Settings (GPA) is a global initiative to promote actions that enable energy access in humanitarian settings by providing a collaborative agenda for energy, development, and humanitarian partners, and to deliver concrete actions of SDG 7. The GPA is steered by 16 international organizations, including UN and non-UN organizations, contributing to both development and the humanitarian sector. It contributes to the humanitarian sector’s transition to renewable energy, which will increase efficiency, and reduce both costs and carbon emissions. This ambition will be achievable through a collaborative approach among governments, private companies, development and humanitarian actors.
The work of UNEP, GGI and GPA show how collaboration can further facilitate efforts to go green. Such global initiatives have the potential to inspire other actors to raise the bar of their own internal sustainability standards and bring concrete benefits to nations, people and communities around the world.
For more information on the activities of the UN Greening the Blue initiative, visit www.greeningtheblue.org or contact greeningtheblue@un.org
For more information about the Greening Government Initiative visit www.sustainability.gov/GGI or contact GGI@ceq.eop.gov.
For more information about the Global Platform for Action on Sustainable in Displacement Settings, visit www.humanitarianenergy.org or contact energy@unitar.org
For information on this and other events at COP26, visit the UNFCCC Global Climate Action website
