Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen
Thank you for coming here today, and thank you to the United Nations Association of the National Capital Area for organizing this gathering to celebrate UN Day. My thanks also to the UN Foundation for their support of this event, which is part of the UNA-NCA’s efforts to build a strong UN-US partnership. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak with you and make my small contribution to this worthwhile goal.
Our discussions today are themed around “Our Planet. Our Future” for good reason. The health of our planet and humanity’s future are inseparable. Both are in serious danger.
Multiple threats
I often talk about the multiple threats facing people and planet. Climate change is eating into our well-being, economic development, peace and stability, and unfortunately unless we take action, it will only get worse. In converting land for agriculture, infrastructure and urban expansion, we have destroyed ecosystems, biodiversity and the services they provide. We are polluting the land, air and sea, causing millions of deaths each year, burdening healthcare systems and, again, destroying nature’s foundations. In reality, though, there is only one threat: humanity. Our reliance on fossil fuels, our pursuit of unrestrained growth, our prioritization of the short-term over the long has caused these challenges. We are our own worst enemy.
Tipping point
But things are changing. I am sure many of you either attended, or followed, the Climate Action Summit, the other summits and the General Assembly last month. You saw, as I did, governments, international organizations, the private sector, civil society, and powerful young voices coming together to find more-sustainable ways of running our societies.
People are taking to the streets to insist that we change our ways. We are seeing environmental concerns dominate in the media, in voting booths, in cabinet meetings, in city councils, in the boardroom, and in classrooms.
The UN has always been at the core of finding common grounds and the platform where we develop collective action, whether on the Sustainable Development Goals or the Paris Agreement. The environment challenge is one that travels across boundaries, and in a sense, binds nations together. The environment is the platform that can enable multilateral action.
The role of UNEP
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The United Nations Environment Programme – as the authoritative voice on the environment within the UN system – is dedicated to this better future. UNEP has been at the heart of the environmental movement since the Stockholm Conference in 1972. It has been central to bringing us to the positive tipping point on environmental action we see today. UNEP’s main task now is to build on the new support to ensure humanity prospers in harmony with the planet.
So, how do we do this? UNEP does not view climate change, ecosystem and biodiversity loss, and pollution as separate issues. They are all closely interlinked and driven by the same forces. To negate these forces, UNEP is focusing on three transformations.
Decarbonize economies
We must decarbonize our economies. This means a rapid transition to clean, renewable energy – accompanied by improved energy efficiency in everything from vehicles to appliances. We have made progress. Renewable energy is beginning to edge out fossil fuels. Investment in renewable energy capacity from 2010 to the end of 2019 is likely to reach a cumulative 2.6 trillion US dollars. In 2017, renewables avoided an estimated 2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. But we can do much more. If we shift investments and subsidies from fossil fuels to renewables, we can slow climate change, cut air pollution, create sustainable jobs and power communities across the world.
Decouple and detoxify
Fixing the planet’s problems is not as simple as weaning ourselves off fossil fuels, however. We need to rethink how we exploit resources, how we build our cities and infrastructure, how we grow our food, and how we manage our waste. Our production and consumption is unsustainable. Natural resource use has tripled from 1970 and continues to grow. Extraction and processing of materials, fuels and food causes 50 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and 90 per cent of biodiversity loss and water stress. We need to move to circular economy models that decouple growth from resource use and detoxify our planet.
Work with nature, not against it
It is just as crucial to place nature at the heart of our societies. Nature-based solutions – such as large-scale afforestation – can deliver one-third of the cuts needed to meet the 1.5 degree C target of the Paris Agreement. They can restore biodiversity, boost livelihoods and health, and create climate resilience. To give just one example, restoring 350 million hectares of degraded landscapes by 2030 could generate 9 trillion US dollars in ecosystem services, and put significant amounts of carbon back in the ground. We need to embed nature in our cities, our infrastructure, our farmlands and our working landscapes. We need to value nature, and account for it in every decision at every level.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
These are the transformations we need. Let me now turn to what UNEP is doing to make them a reality. There are many strands to our work, but they all have one common factor: multilateralism.
Science-Policy interface
UNEP’s core task is to link science to policy action by governments.
We support governments in delivering stronger commitments under every international accord – including the three Rio Conventions: the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.
UNEP’s science and know-how also helps governments design and implement the right policies to make these commitments a reality. UNEP co-founded the world’s top independent climate and biodiversity science bodies, the IPCC and IPBES, and continues to work with them. It founded the International Resource Panel. It publishes reports that track progress, or lack thereof, such as the Emissions Gap and the Global Environment Outlook series. It provides direct technical advice on issues as diverse as duty regimes promoting electric vehicles and policies that reduce food waste.
Multilateral Agreements
While action by individual governments is important, it is only through globally agreed rules that we can transform the whole planet. With this in mind, UNEP hosts the secretariats of many global multilateral agreements – such as those on biodiversity, the trade in species, and chemicals and waste – and works closely with those it does not.
These agreements demonstrate the power of multilateralism, which is no more apparent than in the Montreal Protocol. Under the Protocol, the world slashed the use of gases that were causing the hole in the ozone layer. The ozone layer is on track to completely recover by mid-century, protecting human health and ecosystems. The Protocol is now targeting climate change under its Kigali Amendment. This amendment aims to shave 0.4 degrees C off global warming this century by phasing down climate-warming gases used in the cooling industry.
Working with cities
It is important to note that our work is not just with national governments. We collaborate and inform at all levels, with a growing focus on cities. Over half of the world’s population lives in urban areas, making them major drivers of environmental challenges. But just as cities cause problems, they can solve them. Well-designed cities could cut up to 54 per cent off greenhouse gas emissions, and save on land, water and metals. They can make buildings zero-emission and resilient. They can prioritize sustainable transport solutions. They can implement energy and resource efficiency measures and nature-based solutions – such as the renaturing of urban spaces to bring biodiversity back and keep cities cool naturally.
All of these levers are in the hands of local governments, which is why UNEP is working with the C40 cities network and individual cities on everything from clean and efficient cooling to exploring innovative new building designs.
Private sector
UNEP also collaborates with the private sector, without whom system shifts at speed and scale will not be possible. We need private capital. But our main message to the private sector is that bottom lines are dependent on backing sustainability. We help them see the environmental externalities in their supply chains, which are already hitting profits. We encourage banks, businesses and investors see that the smart money on sustainability.
The private sector is increasingly hearing this message and acting. At the Climate Action Summit, 130 banks signed up to the Principles of Responsible Banking, which UNEP created with leading banks. These banks, collectively holding 47 trillion US dollars in assets, are promising to align their businesses with the Paris Agreement and the SDGs. We also saw institutional investors promise to transition their portfolios – worth 2 trillion US dollars – to net-zero emissions by 2050, under the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance.
Partnerships and coalitions
UNEP is a small organization, but it punches above its weight. It does this by creating partnerships and coalitions across the UN system, governments, the private sector and civil society. There are too many examples to list, so let me highlight one of the newest: The Cool Coalition. Members of this UNEP-led coalition, including multinational corporations, have made real commitments to reducing the climate impact of the cooling industry, while increasing access to life-saving technology.
The benefits of action are huge. A 30 per cent improvement in the energy efficiency of room air conditioners could avoid the need for 2,500 power plants and save 3 trillion US dollars by 2050. Meanwhile, halving food loss with sustainable refrigeration and cold chains could help to feed one billion undernourished people.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I could go on. I could talk about our work encouraging ordinary citizens to adopt sustainable lifestyles. I could point to our work reducing resource-based conflicts and helping communities recover from disaster. I could tell you how we help boost the enforcement of environmental laws. But I have talked enough.
How we can improve
Let me just close by saying that UNEP is striving to improve in this new era of multilateralism. UNEP is working more collaboratively internally to ensure that environmental challenges are treated as one. It is reaching deeper into other sectors to influence decisions made there – part of which means changing the UN Environment Assembly to include a wider range of actors. It is looking to take advantage of the UN reform process to work closer with UN offices on the ground, heeding the call for support on the environmental dimensions of the SDGs.
UNEP must improve quickly, as must everybody. We are up against the clock. The next few years will be critical. We have nations updating their pledges under the Paris Agreement. We have the Convention on Biological Diversity setting the post-2020 framework on biodiversity. We have preparations for the UN Decade for Ecosystem Restoration.
In just three years’ time, it will the 50th anniversary of the Stockholm Declaration, which said, “A point has been reached in history when we must shape our actions throughout the world with a more prudent care for their environmental consequences.” The world has not lived up to these words. By 2022, we must be sure that our societies are finally on the right path.
There is no excuse. With the multilateral processes in place, and levels of support never seen before, we can recalibrate our relationship with the environment. We can design and implement an inclusive global society that thrives within planetary limits. We can ensure a better future for this planet and all of the creatures that live on it.
UNEP is fully engaged in making this future a reality. Your very presence here today tells me that you are too. And for that, I thank you.
Inger Andersen
Executive Director, UN Environment Programme
