The climate emergency is a direct consequence of carbon-heavy land-use and agriculture, transport, buildings and industrial processes and polluting energy sources. Without profound changes to these sectors and a drastic cut to carbon footprints, there is little hope of protecting the planet from the devastating effects of a warmer world.
Below are climate-related news and events from the United Nations and partners.
Negotiations over COP28's final agreement are ramping up as government ministers begin to start meeting to whittle down the text.
Questions remain whether countries will agree to "phase down" or "phase out" fossil fuels, with five days left of negotiations. More than 100 countries support adding text referring to a "phase out" and the science is clear: without the phasing out of fossil fuels, the Paris Agreement goals cannot be met.
Some positivity emerged earlier today when it was revealed that the COP28 President had asked Canada to help to develop language on the potential phase down or phase out of fossil fuels. Yesterday Canada announced it would require its fossil fuel industry to cut its emissions between 35 per cent to 38 per cent below 2019 levels starting in 2030.
The aim is to have a text finalised by the end of the day on Tuesday, although previously COPs have often gone on deep into the early hours of of the morning.
One of today's focuses is on food and specifically how our food systems are impacting the climate. They are responsible for 70 per cent of the water extracted from nature, account for up to one-third of human-linked greenhouse gas emissions, and agriculture has been identified as the threat to 24,000 of the 28,000 species (over 86 per cent) at risk of extinction.
According to UNEP’s Food Waste Index Report 2021, people globally waste 1 billion tonnes of food each year. A staggering one-third of all food produced globally is lost or wasted.
The evidence is becoming too hard to ignore. Food systems reform is critical to tackling the planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss and pollution and waste.
Transport, Buildings and Cities Day will highlight solutions to transition to low carbon and resilient built environments and infrastructure, sustainable and circular waste systems, and sustainable mobility and freight.
UNEP Pavilion: Shifting to electric buses in Africa cities
This event will feature the need for e-bus finance from both a country and private sector perspective and provides insights on electric bus financing from the World Bank and the Green Climate Fund. It will furthermore elaborate on the importance to develop bankable e-bus proposals and how this will be supported through targeted technical assistance.
Time: 10.30-11.15am
Watch here.
UNEP Pavilion: Reinventing cities: Unlocking action for a resilient urban future
This event will highlight the critical role of cities in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. By focusing on core elements such as integrated planning, multi-level governance, integration to international processes, and access to international climate finance, this session will explore how to unlock some of the barriers cities are facing. It will showcase concrete examples from the GEF-funded UrbanShift programme and other UNEP projects, in particular the Saida Sustainable City Initiative.
Time: 11.45-12.30pm
Watch here.
UNEP Pavilion: Loss and damage: Addressing soft limits to adaptation to avert and minimize L&D
This event will build from the 2023 UNEP Adaptation Gap Report and ongoing work by the World Adaptation Science Programme’s Working Group on Loss and Damage. It will address the soft limits to adaptation to avert and minimize losses and damages. Experts will provide an overview of the issue and discuss the topic with the audience, providing further clarity on the soft limits to adaptation.
Time: 14.00-14.45pm
Watch here.
UNEP event: Uniting for Climate Action: Calling for International Cooperation on Technology and Innovation
This event aims to strengthen international cooperation on technology development and transfer and capacity building recognizing the critical role of technology and innovation towards achieving accelerated climate actions by engaging various stakeholders.
Time: 16.00-17.00pm
Climate and Clean Air Ministerial 2023
The Climate & Clean Air Coalition’s annual Climate & Clean Air Ministerial meeting provides strategic guidance and leadership for the Coalition. Government ministers from country Partners and heads of Partner organisations participate in the meeting, and meet at least once per year. The Ministerial this year will focus on the overarching theme of finance for SLCPs, with spotlights on upcoming initiatives and opportunities for partners to engage in the CCAC’s work over the next years. Ministers will also launch the CCAC’s new Clean Air Flagship.
Time: 18.00-20.00pm
UNEP event: Fostering innovation through collaborative climate technology
This event will focus on stimulating collaborative climate technology research, development, and deployment (RD&D) to bridge the gap between the Technology Mechanism and country Parties. The objective is to identify ways to enhance the effective participation of developing country Parties in collaborative climate technology RD&D. Speakers include Jim Skea, IPCC chair, who will provide the keynote on the vision of the IPCC with regards to the collaborative RD&D. The event will highlight successful international, regional, and national collaborative climate technology RD&D partnerships.
Time: 18.30-20.00pm
Tomorrow is a well-deserved rest day for everyone at COP28, and for us too. We will be back bright and early on Friday morning in time for the big final weekend push. Thanks for joining us on the blog so far - see you on Friday!
Speaking at COP28 today, UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said: "Transport is a big driver of emissions. As electric vehicle sales surge globally, we need countries to continue to lead and speed up this transition. It’s a win win: new jobs, clean air and climate action."
Later she also talked about the importance of a inclusive, clean and safe transport transition: "Hundreds are killed every day on roads across Africa. We need a transport revolution that is inclusive, cleaner and safe. Active mobility policies and infrastructure can allow everyone to travel as they need while we meet our climate goals.
One African country that has made progress in transitioning to electric vehicles is Rwanda.
The country of 13 million has in recent years introduced tax breaks for EV buyers, cultivated local electric vehicle makers and unveiled ambitious plans to electrify public buses. The changes are part of the country’s efforts to curb rising air pollution and cut down on the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change.
“E-mobility is one of the transport decarbonization initiatives the government has undertaken,” says François Zirikana, an e-mobility specialist with the City of Kigali. “Other initiatives include Kigali bike share scheme as well as car-free zones and car-free days.”
The Buildings Breakthrough will see countries joining forces to accelerate the transformation of the sector – which accounts for 21 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions – with a view to making near-zero emissions and climate resilient buildings the new normal by 2030.
Under the Buildings Breakthrough, the UNEP/GlobalABC secretariat, the International Energy Agency and the International Renewable Energy Agency, together with the High-level Climate Champions, will undertake an annual assessment of global progress in the sector, closely aligned with the UNEP/GlobalABC annual Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction.
At COP28, UNEP extended an open invitation to nations worldwide to join the Buildings Breakthrough and unite in this global effort towards near-zero emission and resilient buildings by 2030. So far, 27 countries have pledged their commitment to the Buildings Breakthrough.
With the news yesterday that 60 countries have signed the Global Cooling Pledge – and the launch of the Cooling Spotlight Report – the focus is on how cities can keep cool without increasing emissions.
Cooling is a double burden on the climate: air conditioners and refrigerators have both indirect emissions from electricity consumption and direct emissions from the release of refrigerant gases, the majority of which are much more potent at warming the planet than carbon.
By 2050, unless humanity dramatically lowers its emissions of climate-altering greenhouse gases, close to 1,000 cities will experience average summer highs of 35°C, nearly triple the current number. The urban population exposed to these high temperatures could increase by 800 per cent, reaching 1.6 billion by mid-century.
So, what are some alternatives to air conditioning that can help keep people cool without leading to a rise in emissions? Here are five examples from around the world.
The event will explore and showcase how AI and related technologies can be harnessed to tackle climate challenges, such as predictive modelling, climate data analysis, and ensuring efficient management of resources.
It will also discuss the potential negative effect of unregulated AI on the climate and reinforce the importance of ethics. Finally, it will explore the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence in addressing climate change challenges.
Europe’s climate monitor, the Copernicus Climate Change Service announced today that November had become the sixth record-breaking month in a row for average temperatures. It was 1.75°C warmer than the pre-industrial average, with 2023 1.46°C above the pre-industrial average, making it the hottest year on average since records began.
November also contained two days that were 2°C warmer than pre-industrial levels, which has never happened before. Indeed scientists say that 2023 could be the warmest in more than 100,000 years.
With COP28 at its mid-point, negotiators are about to start to whittle down the text, with most hoping there is a mention of a fossil fuel "phase-out" in the final agreement. The science is clear that there needs to be a huge drop in fossil fuel burning if the Paris Agreement goals are to be reached.
Earlier today, 75 scientists published an open letter in which they highlighted what needs to happen to reach net-zero emissions by 2050: "Scenarios consistent with this goal require a complete phase-out of coal by 2050 and rapid phase-down of oil and gas (halved every decade). After 2050 the world needs to rapidly move into net negative emissions, particularly after a number of decades of 1.5°C overshoot."
We can't manage what we don't measure, goes the old business adage. This rings true more than ever today as the world faces a triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, pollution, and waste.
More climate data is available than ever before, but how that data is accessed, interpreted and acted on is crucial to managing these crises. One technology that is central to this is Artificial Intelligence (AI).
So, what exactly does AI mean?
"AI refers to systems or machines that perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, and can iteratively improve themselves over time, based on the information they collect," says David Jensen, coordinator UNEP's Digital Transformation sub-programme.
Jensen highlights several areas where AI can play a role in tackling environmental challenges, from designing more energy-efficient buildings to monitoring deforestation to optimizing renewable energy deployment.
"This can be on a large scale – such as satellite monitoring of global emissions, or a more granular scale – such as a smart house automatically turning off lights or heat after a certain time," he adds.
