UN
Global Climate Action
30
January
2023 | |
High-Level Champions'
Newsletter | |
Capturing the potential of carbon
markets | |
At the recent Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
(ADSW), UN Climate Change High-Level Champions
for COP 27 and COP 28, Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin and
Her Excellency Ms. Razan Al Mubarak reinforced
the importance of innovative finance tools and
nature-based solutions to advance the net zero
agenda.
60%
of the poorest economies are currently in debt
distress or at high risk of it. Many of them are
already suffering the worst impacts of climate
change. Financing their way to a more
sustainable, secure and economically stable
future is a huge challenge. Nevertheless,
mobilizing climate finance provides an
opportunity to sustainable, resilient and
inclusive development.
Speaking at the Africa Carbon Markets
Initiative (ACMI) event, Dr. Mohieldin
outlined how a global market for
carbon that establishes carbon credits as a
legitimate source of value could be a
gamechanger for countries looking to finance
climate-change mitigation and adaptation
initiatives.
Launched
at COP 27, ACMI aims to make climate finance
available for African countries, expand access
to clean energy, and drive sustainable economic
development.
Led by a
13-member steering committee of African leaders,
chief executives and industry specialists, the
initiative promises to expand the continent’s
participation in voluntary carbon
markets.
Its
ambition is to produce 300 million
African carbon credits annually by 2030 (19
times the 2020 level), unlock USD 6 billion
in revenue by 2030 and over USD 120 billion by
2050.
At its inception, USD 200 million was
secured in advanced market commitments from
global corporations while Kenya, Gabon, Malawi,
Mozambique, Togo, Nigeria, and Burundi signed up
to develop carbon activation plans.
Building on this at ADSW, ACMI announced an
action program aimed at accelerating Africa’s
participation in the global carbon market ahead
of COP 28. This includes advancing market
commitments with an ambition of up to USD 1
billion for the purchase of high- integrity
African credits and launching carbon activation
plans for multiple countries.
Boosting
the supply of credits would enable much-needed
sustainable investment in sectors ranging from
renewable energy and clean cookstoves to
agriculture and forestry.
Currently the nascent carbon credit market
faces numerous challenges to growth in
many
parts of Africa. These include a lack of
project developers capable of operating at
scale, a
complex regulatory landscape, inadequate
methodologies for valuing and certifying
credits, and concerns about
integrity.
In the words of Joseph Nganga, Vice
President, Africa, for the Global Energy
Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) “Current levels of
climate finance fall short of Africa’s needs.
The continent requires USD 3 trillion to
implement its aspect of the Paris Agreement, yet
less than USD 20 billion was provided in total
to Africa between 2016 and 2019. Voluntary
carbon markets can play a crucial role in
filling this finance gap, but its potential is
far from being realised. The Africa Carbon
Markets Initiative can help us achieve a more
rapid and equitable energy transition for
Africa, a transition that supports lives and
livelihoods with clean, reliable energy while
countering the existential threat of our time,
climate
change.”
ACMI was launched in collaboration with The
Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet
(GEAPP), Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), and the UN
Economic Commission for Africa, with the support
of the UN Climate Change High-Level
Champions. | |
Chile’s cities racing to
zero | |
The Chilean Association of Cities (AChm) has signed an agreement with Local
Governments for Sustainability, South America (ICLEI) to collaborate on
initiatives which promote sustainable
development and local climate action.
ICLEI is a strategic partner for cities in
the Climate Champions' Race to
Zero and Race to
Resilience global campaigns. Through this
agreement ICLEI hopes to engage more cities in
both campaigns and support them in implementing
climate change mitigation and adaptation targets
in line with the country’s Climate
Change Framework Law (Climate Act).
Published in June 2022, Chile’s Climate Act
includes a binding goal of net zero emissions by
2050 at the latest. Breaking away from
traditional, centralized climate legislation,
the Climate Act allows for greater participation
of non-State actors (NSA) such as local and
regional governments and the private sector thus
creating a multi-sector response to the climate
crisis.
In addition, specific NSA groups have been
established to support the Climate Act including
a Scientific Advisory Committee, highlighting
the role of science in supporting the design and
implementation of instruments created by the law
and a National Council for Sustainability and
Climate Change, composed of representatives from
civil society, academia, and the corporate
sector, among others.
AChm represents more than 340 cities in
Chile and offers training and support on
important issues of governance.
President of AChm
and Mayor of Peñalolen, Carolina Leitao said: “
For us, alliances and networks are
crucial in helping us consolidate our work
supporting members and facing the climate crisis
with concrete actions.
We signed this memorandum to help our
members with their capacity building, better
understand how to implement the Climate Law in
Chile and create improved Climate Action Plans
for our cities. We hope this alliance will
reinforce the commitments of cities in Race to
Zero and Race to Resilience and increase the
connection between our local climate agenda and
the global one.”
ICLEI is a global network of more than 2500
local and regional governments committed to
sustainable urban development. Active in 125+
countries, it influences sustainability policy
and drives local action for low emission,
nature-based, equitable, resilient and circular
development in line with the Paris
Agreement.
Executive
Director of ICLEI Argentina Ms. María Julia
Reyna said: “We believe this memorandum is the
first step to achieving our goal of supporting
sustainable urban development which is both
environmentally responsible and socially
inclusive. We hope it will reinforce the
position of local and regional governments as
drivers of this trajectory and that our
cooperation and experience inspires them to
integrate sustainable mobility,
energy
transition,
circular
economy
and nature-based solutions
into their governmental agendas".
| |
New philanthropic fund offers key to
unlocking climate
finance | |
The
World Economic Forum, supported by more than 45
partners recently launched the Giving to Amplify
Earth Action (GAEA),
a global initiative to fund and grow new and
existing public, private and philanthropic
partnerships (PPPPs) to help unlock the $3
trillion of financing needed each year to reach
net zero, reverse nature loss and restore
biodiversity by 2050.
Current
funding is slow and inadequate, and a new
approach is needed to get capital flowing. It’s
hoped philanthropic giving through initiatives
like GAEA can address this.
Klaus
Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World
Economic Forum said: “We are at a tipping point
in our efforts to put the planet back on track
to meet our climate ambitions. To reach the
speed and scale required to heal the Earth’s
systems, we need to unlock not only private
capital and government funds, but also the
philanthropy sector as a truly catalytic force
to achieve the necessary acceleration.”
Philanthropic
financing for climate mitigation has risen in
recent years, but still represents less than 2%
of total philanthropic giving, estimated at $810
billion in 2021. Greater philanthropic funding
for climate and nature will support, not detract
from, existing social priorities. As recently
noted by Rajiv Shah, President, The Rockefeller
Foundation: “Climate change poses a singular
threat to humanity … we must directly confront
climate change, even as we redouble efforts in
our traditional program areas: health, power,
food, and equity.”
Over
the next 12 months, supported by McKinsey
Sustainability as a knowledge partner, GAEA will
work with founding members to build momentum
around three clear objectives: Convene leaders
from the public, private and philanthropic
sectors to identify and target climate and
nature solutions; pilot and refine funding
models that can support PPPP intervention and
scale up and replicate successful approaches to
new sectors, regions and
actors. | |
COP
27 Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan – call
for inputs and opportunities to
engage | |
To
support the implementation of the Sharm
el-Sheikh Implementation Plan and the decisions
from COP 27, Parties, observers and other
non-Party stakeholders are invited to submit
inputs to various calls for submissions. We
would like to take the opportunity to highlight
some of the upcoming deadlines where the
High-Level Champions are encouraged to support
the effective participation of NSAs.
Sharm
el-Sheikh Mitigation Ambition and Implementation
Work Programme
At COP
27, the Sharm
el-Sheikh Mitigation Ambition and Implementation
Work Programme was
operationalized. As with the global stocktake,
Parties encouraged the High-Level Champions to
support the effective participation of non-Party
stakeholders in this work
programme. As one of the
initial steps, Parties, observers and other
non-Party stakeholders are invited to submit by
1
February suggested topics
aligned to the scope of the work programme to be
discussed under the work prorgamme’s global
dialogues in 2023.
Global
Stocktake
In the
run-up to the conclusion of the first global
stocktake
at COP 28, views on the approach to the
consideration of the outputs component of the
first global stocktake can be submitted
until 15
February.
Guidance on how to provide submissions is
available
here.
Also, inputs for the third technical dialogue to
be held during the 58th
Subsidiary Body sessions in June in Bonn
can be submitted until 6
March.
Further details can be found
here.
As a
reminder, the full list of decisions from COP 27
can be found
here and
a list of all calls for submission resulting
from COP 27 can be found
here.
Guidance on how to submit inputs are
available
here and
all stakeholders are encouraged to take
advantage of these opportunities. Watch this
space for further details and information on
additional opportunities to engage!
| |
● A new report from the International Renewable Energy
Agency (IRENA), in cooperation
with UN Climate Change, underscores that
long-term energy scenarios are vital for moving
the global energy system to a clean, sustainable
and renewable-based future. The report looks at
how governments are aligning – and misaligning –
their energy policy goals and climate goals by
comparing their long-term energy strategies
(LTES) with their scenario-based long-term
low-emission development strategies (LT-LEDS).
The report also suggests ways to increase
coherence between energy and climate policies.
It aims to complement the UN Climate Change’s
synthesis report on LT-LEDS.
● Portugal has signed
an
agreement
to swap Cabo Verde’s debt for investments in an
environmental and climate fund that is being
established by the archipelago nation off West
Africa’s coast. Such “debt-for-nature” swap
deals are emerging in other countries and are
part of attempts to resolve a dilemma faced by
world leaders on how and who will foot the bill
for actions taken to reduce the impact of
climate change. Cabo Verde, which is already
suffering from rising sea levels and significant
biodiversity loss due to increasing ocean
acidity, owes around €140 million ($152m) to the
Portuguese state and over €400m ($434m) to its
banks and other entities. Portuguese Prime
Minister Antonio Costa said that initially, €12m
(~$13m) of debt repayments to the state
scheduled until 2025 will be put in the fund,
and ultimately “the entire amount of debt
repayments” will end up there, allowing Cabo
Verde to invest in energy transition and the
fight against climate change. “This is a new
seed that we sow in our future cooperation.
Climate change is a challenge that takes place
on a global scale and no country will be
(environmentally) sustainable if all countries
are not sustainable,” Costa said during a state
visit to Cabo Verde.
● French bank
BNP
Paribas
has pledged to reduce the
money it has outstanding with the oil extraction
and production industries to less than one
billion euros ($1.1 billion) by 2030, an 80%
decline from its current balance of five billion
euros. The lender said it stopped financing oil
projects back in 2016, but this latest
commitment will accelerate the pace at which it
reduces outstanding financing for oil extraction
and production as part of its efforts to curb
carbon emission and meet climate goals.
● NATO has hosted its
first Industry Symposium on Climate Change and
Capabilities, which brought together over 150
representatives from NATO Allies and industry.
The participants discussed how NATO’s ambitions
on climate change and security can be taken into
account in the development of new capabilities.
Among the issues discussed was the development
of sustainable fuels for capabilities in the
air, land, and maritime domains.
● Businessman Bill
Gates has invested in an Australian climate
technology start-up that plans to reduce the
methane emissions of cow burps. Perth-based
start-up Rumin8
is
working on a dietary supplement - synthetically
replicated from red seaweed - which stops the
creation of the gas. It
announced in a statement that it had raised
$12m in a funding round led by Breakthrough
Energy Ventures, which Mr Gates founded in 2015.
Methane is the most common greenhouse gas after
carbon dioxide. Livestock such as cows, goats
and deer produce methane when their stomachs are
breaking down hard fibres like grass for
digestion. University studies have shown that
feeding cows seaweed could significantly cut
their methane emissions. The investment firm is
also backed by Amazon chief executive Jeff
Bezos, and Chinese entrepreneur and Alibaba
co-founder Jack Ma.
● The OPEC Fund for
International Development is providing a US$120 million
loan to Panama to support the country’s climate
action, adaptation, resilience and mitigation
policies. The “Panama Support Programme for the
National Climate Change Policy” aims to
mitigate, contain and reverse the effects of
climate change, helping Panama to achieve its
long-term climate change commitments aligned
with the Paris Agreement. The OPEC Fund is
partnering in the project with CAF - Development
Bank of Latin America, which is supporting the
programme with an additional US$320 million
sovereign loan. While Panama is considered a
carbon negative country with almost no
contributions to global emissions, it is highly
vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
Natural disasters and extreme weather events
including floods, droughts, tropical cyclones,
tsunamis and recurring tropical climate patterns
El Niño-La Niña have caused significant losses
in recent years. In response, Panama aims to
accelerate the transition towards inclusive,
sustainable, low carbon and climate resilient
development.
| |
Keeping
up with the
Champions | |
● Dr.
Mahmoud Mohieldin recently participated in the Annual
Regional Management Meeting of the Regional
Office for the Near East and North Africa of
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). During his keynote
address “From COP27-COP28: Implementing climate
action in agriculture and food systems”, Dr.
Mohieldin highlighted the importance of the
Sharm-El-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda - the
first global agenda to accelerate adaptation
action and finance, launched at COP 27 by the
COP27 Presidency and the High Level Climate
Champions.
He outlined four outcomes of the Agenda
relating to agriculture and food systems to be
attained by 2030. These include: a 17% increase
in climate resilient, sustainable agriculture
yields and a reduction of farm level GHG
emissions by 21%; halving the share of food
production lost and per capita food waste
(relative to 2019); healthy alternative proteins
to capture 15% of the global meat and seafood
market and the global consumption of
fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts and legumes to
increases 1.5
times. | |
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