UN
Climate Change
Global
Climate Action
11
May
2021 | |
High Level Climate Champions
Newsletter | |
What a Robust Commitment Looks
Like | |
Commitments
to reach zero emissions in the 2040s are the
crucial first step in our race. But words alone
will not get us there - it’s about the action
that comes soon
after.
A
commitment must be followed up with a plan for
achieving it - based on what the science says is
necessary - with interim targets for the 2020s
and regular, transparent progress reports. And
that plan must simultaneously chart the shift
away from fossil fuels and towards the
restoration and regeneration of nature, leading
to real emissions reductions wherever
possible.
To
keep UN Race to Zero members on track to meet,
and beat, their targets, the campaign’s
independent Expert
Peer Review Group
recently published
refined criteria
for all partner initiatives. The result is an
enhanced set of criteria with a stronger
emphasis on the need for interim targets and
immediate action.
Race
to Zero members need to show how they will
contribute to meeting, or surpassing, their fair
share of halving emissions by 2030, and explain
what they will do to meet interim and long-term
targets within a year of joining the campaign.
These plans should prioritize emissions
reductions over offsets, so that any residual
emissions are limited to what cannot feasibly be
eliminated. As such, the UN High-Level Champions
for Climate Action have made clear that there is
currently no science-based route for oil and gas
companies to join the Race to Zero, and there
won’t be until a sector-specific methodology is
published.
This
is the result of the first of the Race to Zero’s
annual criteria review, aimed at ensuring that
the campaign keeps pace with the science and
best practices and helping the wider climate
community converge around robust approaches to
halving emissions by 2030 and reaching net zero
in the
2040s. | |
Mobile Sector Breaks
Through | |
More
than a third of the global mobile
sector
is now racing to zero emissions by the 2040s,
unlocking the potential for avoiding 10 times
more emissions across the economy.
Around
36 percent of mobile operators by revenue, and
31 percent by mobile connections, have now met
the rigorous criteria set by the UN’s Race to
Zero campaign. That surpasses the campaign’s
tipping point, or “breakthrough moment”,
when commitments from 20 percent of operators
provide the momentum needed to pull the whole
sector away from the business-as-usual path.
Science-based emissions reduction commitments by
mobile operators now cover half of connection
and 65 percent of industry
revenues.
The
mobile sector’s progress is significant because
it could help avoid emissions in other sectors
by increasing connectivity, improving efficiency
and influencing behaviour change, according to a
report by industry association GSMA.
In 2018, GSMA estimated that mobile
communications technologies could help avoid
around 2 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent - well
beyond the sector’s 220 million tonnes. Avoided
emissions could then double by 2021 as a result
of mobile technologies, it added.
At
the same time, the mobile industry needs to keep
accelerating its own race to zero emissions. The
industry’s biggest source of emissions is its
supply chain. The manufacture and use of devices
and equipment is responsible for around 50
million tonnes of e-waste produced every year,
according to a new GSMA
report.
This
makes the circular economy a fundamental part of
the mobile sector’s transition - capable of
generating US$45-80 billion in value every year,
according to a study by Telia
Company,
which serves customers in the Nordic and Baltic
countries. Telia aims to have 84 percent of
waste from its operations and network
construction and maintenance reused or recycled
by 2025 and reach zero waste by 2030. Dutch
social enterprise Fairphone,
meanwhile, has already designed phones that
last, are easy to repair and have modular
upgrades.
| |
Latin America and Caribbean Climate
Week | |
Government,
private sector and civil society leaders from
Latin America and the Caribbean are coming
together from Tuesday to Friday
(11-14 May) to discuss climate action solutions
and ways to incorporate them into the Covid-19
recovery, as one of UN Climate Change’s regional
meetings ahead of COP26.
The
virtual climate week will focus on three
thematic sessions: national actions and
economy-wide approaches; integrated approaches
for climate-resilient development; and seizing
transformation opportunities. The line-up
of events
includes the High-Level Champions’
Implementation Lab on Thursday, looking at the
energy transition in Caribbean small island
developing states and financing for nature-based
solutions across the region, and a Race to
Resilience dialogue
on novel finance solutions for coastal
resilience.
| |
- Welcome,
ambassadors! The Race to Zero and Race to
Resilience welcomed nine
ambassadors
from around the world, who will help mobilize
cities, regions, businesses, investors and
others to contribute to halving emissions by
2030 and building resilience for 4 billion
people at risk from the climate crisis. The
ambassadors bring a range of expertise and
knowledge from different regions, and share a
commitment to transformative
change.
- Cutting
methane emissions would prevent 260,000
premature deaths, 775,000 asthma-related
hospital visits per year and 25 million tonnes
in crop losses, according to a new UN
Environment Programme report
that offers solutions to reducing methane
emissions by around a third by 2030. Mainly:
from fossil fuels.
- Pointing
to “encouraging signs from some major
economies”, UN
Secretary-General António Guterres
told
last weeks’ Petersberg Climate Dialogue that
“the world’s top priority should be to dispense
with polluting coal-fired power stations
altogether and replace them with renewable
energy”.
- The
podcast Outrage
and Optimism
explores how to finance the race to zero
emissions, in the third installment of a
partnership with the Race to Zero.
- Promised
health gains from the decline of coal-fired
electricity are being undone by pollution caused
by burning other combustion fuels like gas and
wood pellets, according to research from
Harvard
University.
- The
Global
Climate and Health Alliance
and dozens of professional health organizations
are calling on countries to address future
health risks by injecting “health and equity in
all climate policies”. This includes healthy
Nationally Determined Contributions to the Paris
Agreement and Covid-19 recovery plans.
- Sir
David Attenborough
has been named COP26 People’s Advocate. He will
address world leaders at major international
events over the next six months, including the
G7 Summit in Cornwall in June, to firmly put
climate and the protection of nature at the top
of their agenda.
| |
- B7
Summit,
11-12 May
- Latin
America And Caribbean Climate Week 2021,
11-14 May
- Countdown to COP26: Catalysing
industry action,
12 May
- Air
Pollution: How Renewables Can Tackle This
Challenge,
12 May
- Accelerating Australia’s Race To
Zero,
13 May
- Promoting Coastal Resilience
through Novel Finance Solutions,
14 May
- Transformation of the cities of
Latin America and the Caribbean: renewable
energy and net zero emissions
(en español), 18 May
- Accelerating Sustainable Energy in
Cities in Asia & the Pacific,
18 May
- ASEAN-UK
Race to Zero Dialogues,
24-25 May
- Health
care sector joins the Race to Zero
campaign,
26 May
- P4G
Seoul Summit,
30-31 May
| |
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