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.
Hosted by the Technology Mechanism, the event "Innovation and Technology in Support of Risk-Informed Climate Adaptation and Early Warnings for All" spotlighted what role technology and innovation play in climate resilience and risk-aware investment in vulnerable regions. Nearly half of all countries have incorporated early warning systems into their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), underscoring their importance in climate adaptation.
The event stressed the need to tailor technology solutions to local contexts, blending traditional and modern methods for more effective early warning systems. Addressing disparities in disaster risk knowledge, particularly in least developed countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), remains a key challenge. Collaborative efforts, including public-private partnerships, are essential for promoting open data and knowledge sharing.
The event concluded with a call for sustained collaboration, strategic investment, and capacity building to advance technology-driven solutions for climate resilience and informed decision-making.
Pledges to reduce deforestation and pledges to financially support this transition from developed countries are insufficient to halt deforestation by 2030.
The report finds that commitments within the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) from the twenty countries with the highest emissions from tropical deforestation are not enough to meet the goal to halt deforestation by 2030. Only eight countries include explicit, quantified targets to reduce deforestation. All fall short of the global ambition to halt deforestation by 2030.
The report provides recommendations to strengthen and enhance forest-based targets in NDCs and other policies and scale up immediate and substantive financial and technical support for forest-rich countries.
At the fifth annual AI for Good Global Summit held in Geneva, UNEP's work took center stage on AI and the environment to help tackle the triple planetary crisis, which includes achieving climate stability, harmony with nature, and a pollution-free planet.
“Across all these domains, we work with two things in mind, we call them the two sides of the coin, how do we deploy technology to achieve these goals, and on the other side, how do we make technology itself environmentally sustainable and responsible,” said Golestan Sally Radwan, Chief Digital Officer at UNEP, during her presentation.
One of these efforts is EnvironmentGPT, a ground-breaking application of Large Language Model technology for environmental purposes.
More highlights from UN officials and other participants.
See also: AI for Good Global Summit 2024 YouTube playlist (with interviews).
On the sidelines of the 60th session of the Bonn Climate Change Conference, the Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) Knowledge Day highlighted the critical importance of EbA. This event underscored the value of EbA as a cross-cutting approach capable of uniting the actions of various climate conventions.
Local practitioners are pivotal in implementing EbA, requiring robust collaboration with non-governmental organisations, community-based organisations, Indigenous Peoples' organisations, and local governments to ensure that projects are contextually relevant. To make a compelling case for investment, EbA projects must strengthen their climate rationale, focus on cost-effective solutions, and utilise quantifiable data.
Despite the urgency posed by climate change, adaptation efforts, including EbA, are lagging behind, prompting a need to reassess current strategies. Pooling resources from different conventions can help test and scale EbA actions, thereby mitigating risks and reducing maladaptation instances.
Leveraging technology, such as artificial intelligence, can significantly enhance EbA implementation by improving risk assessment, reporting quality, language accessibility, data collection, and the protection of vulnerable communities and intellectual property.
Addressing barriers to funding access for local practitioners and fostering multistakeholder collaboration are essential for advancing EbA in alignment with Rio Convention goals. By enhancing collaboration and resource allocation, we can ensure that EbA plays a central role in meeting the connected goals on land, nature and climate.
Loss and damage and transparent reporting of loss and damage, were central to UNEP, the UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre (UNEP-CCC), and the Initiative for Climate Action Transparency's agenda during the 60th session of the Bonn Climate Change Conference. Innovative monitoring and evaluation technologies for tracking and reporting losses and damages were also on display. The exchange focused on sharing experiences with innovative solutions, possibilities, impediments and problems for institutionalising loss and damage within government institutions.
The main outcome of the technical exchange was the creation of a collaborative action plan defining specific initiatives for capacity building, technical support, and international cooperation on loss and damage. UNEP-CCC will create a network for non-annex I countries to exchange technical information and enhance transparency in loss and damage.
Today in Bonn, UNEP is hosting a series of significant events addressing a range of topics related to Climate Action. The day kicks off with a session on the Global Cooling Pledge Implementation Strategy, focusing on helping member countries reduce emissions through innovative cooling methods. Following this, the 10th Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) Knowledge Day, highlighting the role of EbA in achieving climate, biodiversity, and land goals. See the latest case study on Jamaica's flood adaptation strategies that rely on nature.
The agenda continues with the third Glasgow Dialogue (GD3), aimed at enhancing coordination in loss and damage support frameworks. The key findings from the IPCC's AR6 will be discussed in preparation for the seventh assessment cycle. In the afternoon, attendees will explore how Technology Action Plans can make NDCs 3.0 more ambitious and investment-ready. The day concludes with the Global Stocktake Dialogue, which is crucial for assessing global progress towards climate targets in line with the Paris Agreement, setting the stage for future commitments following the first Global Stocktake at COP28.
See more on the UNEP at the June UN Climate Meetings event page.
As climate records are shattered, and emissions continue to rise, on World Environment Day, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres will set out some hard-hitting truths about the state of the climate, the grotesque risk leaders are running, and what companies and countries – particularly the G7 and the G20 – need to do over the next eighteen months to salvage humanity’s chances of a liveable future.
The Secretary-General will also share new data from the World Meteorological Organisation and The Copernicus Climate Change Service.
