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.
The past few days at COP28 have seen some new pledges around methane and other non-CO2 gases, but much more needs to be done, particularly around finance, says UNEP's Executive Director, Inger Andersen.
With the launch of the Cooling Spotlight Report tomorrow, Andersen also highlighted UNEP's work on sustainable cooling. "The UNEP-led Cool Coalition supports action on sustainable cooling, [while] UNEP is a partner of the COP Presidency’s Global Cooling Pledge, which will be announced on December 5. Achieving the Pledge would save 78 billion tonnes of CO2e by 2050, increase access to sustainable cooling and save money.
Finance is required to turn this these ambitions into concrete actions on the ground, Andersen added.
"There have been initiatives from multilateral development banks, donors and philanthropies on methane. But methane abatement finance must increase at least 3.5 times by 2030. The latest replenishment of the Montreal Protocol’s Multilateral Fund boosted efforts to phase down hydrofluorocarbons. But action on other gases remain underfunded."
Read more about why countries are contemplating a cooling pledge at COP28.
Record-setting endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh is this week's guest on the Awake At Night podcast hosted by UN communications chief Melissa Fleming.
Pugh, a UNEP ocean advocate, has swam in every ocean of the world, often in freezing conditions, in an effort to raise awareness about the mounting threats to the world’s seas.
Earlier this year he swam the 500km length of the Hudson River in New York to raise awareness of the importance of protecting the world's rivers, which are under increasing pressure from both pollution and climate change.
“Rivers are the Earth’s arteries,” said Pugh. “Our planet is a living system and every living thing needs clean water. Without clean rivers, every community and every ecosystem suffers," he said at the time.
An event taking place right now at the UNEP Pavilion will examine how greening public investments can accelerate SDGs and Paris Agreement goals, fostering economic dividends, job creation, and resilience against climate risks.
This event will also explore efficient pathways for African and developing nations, organizations, financial institutions, and the private sector to accelerate sustainable infrastructure investments, design policies, attract financing and foster public-private partnerships for a climate-resilient world.
This year, humanity came face to face with an ever-worsening climate crisis, as wildfires, storms and floods caused devastation around the world.
Countries must dramatically scale up their efforts to adapt to the climate crisis, say experts. Developing nations alone need $215 billion to $387 billion to contend with the fallout of climate change, found UNEP’s Adaptation Gap Report 2023, released last month.
While current spending is only a fraction of that total, there are some rays of hope. From Cambodia to Peru, a range of innovative projects are helping communities weather a variety of climate-related perils. Read about five of those efforts here.
Plastics are not a lifeboat for the fossil fuel industry as the world decarbonises - that was the message from UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen today at COP28.
"Business-as-usual growth in plastics would burn through up to 20 per cent of the carbon budget for 1.5°C by 2040 – mainly from the production of primary polymers and conversion into products," she said at The Climate Impact of Plastic Production - The Road to a Global Plastics Treaty event in Dubai earlier today.
Andersen highlighted some of the other climate impacts of plastic pollution, including the fact that ocean and coastal ecosystems are vital to store carbon and build resilience to climate change, yet "there can be no adaptation in a sea of plastic."
She also outlined what a plastic pollution free future looks like: "We need to use fewer virgin polymers, less plastic and no harmful chemicals. We need to ensure that we use, reuse, and recycle resources more efficiently. And dispose safely of what is left over. This is how we protect ecosystems, human health and the climate. Create new jobs. And save trillions in social and economic costs."
The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) process is underway to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment.
The next stage of the INC process will take place in Ottawa in April next year.
Adaptation finance is stalling, despite pledges made at COP26 in Glasgow two years ago to double adaptation finance support to around $40 billion per year by 2025, with public adaptation finance flows to developing countries declining by 15 per cent to around $21 billion in 2021.
Published last month, the Adaptation Gap Report 2023 revealed that the adaptation finance needs of developing countries are 10-18 times as big as international public finance flows – more than 50 per cent higher than the previously estimated.
As a result of the growing adaptation finance needs and faltering flows, the current adaptation finance gap is now estimated to be US$194-366 billion per year. At the same time, adaptation planning and implementation appear to be plateauing. This failure to adapt has massive implications for losses and damages, particularly for the most vulnerable.
“In 2023, climate change yet again became more disruptive and deadly: temperature records toppled, while storms, floods, heatwaves and wildfires caused devastation,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. “These intensifying impacts tell us that the world must urgently cut greenhouse gas emissions and increase adaptation efforts to protect vulnerable populations. Neither is happening.”
Faith-based organizations and religious leaders are an important presence at COPs demonstrating that religious and spiritual communities are essential to the fight against climate change.
UNEP – through the Faith for Earth Coalition – is working with religious groups from around the world to further climate action and the Faith Pavilion has partnered with 140 faith-based organizations.
More than 200 religious participants took part in a pre-COP gathering in Abu Dhabi last month, and ended with with 28 faith leaders signing a statement in support of urgent action. The Interfaith Statement on Climate Action Towards COP28 was backed by leaders representing Anglicans, Bahá’is, Bohras, Buddhists, Catholics, Coptic Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Evangelicals, Hindus, Jains, Jewish peoples, Mahikaris, Mandaeans, Protestants, Shia Muslims, Sikhs, and Sunni Muslims.
And with with 84 per cent of the world’s population having a faith, such declarations can be very influential and show the depth and reach of faith-based groups in driving climate action.
Today is Finance Day at COP28, with the focus on the role finance can play in promoting sustainable land use, enhancing ecosystem resilience, and generating public and private investments for climate action.
UNEP Pavilion: Tackling the True Cost of Finance Adaptation
This panel session will unveil and discuss updated financial data and analysis from the 2023 Adaptation Gap Report, reflecting actual adaptation costs aligned with developing countries' NDCs and NAPs. The session will also explore how financial institutions can expand climate-resilient finance and embed assessments of physical climate risks across the sector.
Time: 10.30-11.15am
Watch here.
UNEP Pavilion: Innovative Finance Solutions
This event will explore innovative financial solutions to address pressing global challenges related to sustainable land use and adaptation and explore how these initiatives are instrumental in promoting sustainable land use, enhancing ecosystem resilience, and driving public and private investment for climate action.
Time: 11.45-12.30pm
Watch here.
UNEP event: Accelerating NDC implementation and addressing global stocktake outcomes through TNAs
This event will discuss the linkages between Nationally determined contributions (NDCs), Technology Needs Assessments (TNAs) and the Global Stocktake by explaining how TNAs were integrated into the NDCs and their implementation process to enhance access to climate technologies for developing countries.
Time: 13.15-14.45pm
UNEP Pavilion: Catalysing NDC investments: ambition to Action
This event will to discuss innovative institutional arrangements and alliances for climate decision-making and investments. It brings together government officials and experts from Colombia, Vietnam and Morocco to share experiences on transformative institutional setups, attracting investment, and forging alliances for climate investments.
Time: 14.15-15.00pm
Watch here.
UNEP Pavilion: Unleashing climate-resilient infrastructure investments
Greening public investments can accelerate SDGs and Paris Agreement goals, fostering economic dividends, job creation, and resilience against climate risks. This event will explore efficient pathways for African and developing nations, organizations, financial institutions, and the private sector to accelerate sustainable infrastructure investments, design policies, attract financing and foster public-private partnerships for a climate-resilient world.
Time: 15.30-16.15pm
Watch here.
UNEP Pavilion: The financial system & the quest for net-zero - using the best available science to enable a smooth yet determined economic transition
This session will discuss the forms in which private and public financial institutions, as well as their regulators can accelerate and augment cooperation towards net zero. It will also go in-depth on the newest scenarios developed in conjunction with the Network for Greening the Financial System.
Time: 16.45-17.30pm
Watch here.
UNEP event: Enabling the shift towards a new finance paradigm
This event will discuss the importance of price-based insurance products to shield smallholder farmers from market fluctuations. Government ministries from African countries will share their insights on the critical role of public finance in supporting agriculture and adaptation, advocating for increased risk-taking and conducive environments to generate additional capital.
Time: 18.00-19.30pm
It was a very busy first weekend at COP28 with tens of thousands descending on Dubai's Expo City. Here is a selection of photos from the past two days.
Renewables made up 83 per cent of all new energy capacity last year, and 40 per cent of all power generation globally is currently renewable, according to a new report launched at COP28 today by UN weather agency WMO and the International Renewable Energy Agency IRENA.
WMO said that the increase is “key to achieving decarbonized energy systems by 2050, with an accompanying steep and decisive decline of fossil fuel consumption” and IRENA insisted that “to stay on the 1.5 degree Celsius climate pathway, global renewable capacity must triple by 2030."
Read more about UNEP's work in the renewable energy sector here.
