UN
Climate Change
Global
Climate Action
7
June
2021 | |
High Level Climate Champions
Newsletter | |
In
a resilient, zero-emissions economy in the
2040s, the ocean will look much like it does
today: still covering about 70 percent of the
earth’s surface, absorbing a quarter of CO2
emissions that would otherwise remain in the
atmosphere, and housing an abundance of marine
life that supports the diets of billions of
people.
If
we continue with business as usual, however, the
coming decades will bring more ocean warming,
acidification, deoxygenation and biodiversity
loss. Pollution and climate change are already
destroying the ecosystems that sequester and
store more carbon per unit area than land
forests, and safeguard coastal communities. That
includes salt marshes, mangroves and seagrasses.
Some 40 percent of the population is at risk
from rising sea levels, eroding coastlines,
salinization inland and changing fishing
supplies.
There
is time to course-correct, but it needs to start
in 2021. Businesses, investors, cities, region
and national governments are already placing the
race to zero emissions and resilience at the
heart of their health and economic recoveries
from Covid-19. Ocean recovery and regeneration
need to play a key role in those near- and
long-term climate strategies.
Danish
energy company Ørsted
set an example last week,
with a first-of-its-kind commitment to ensure
that the impact of its renewable energy projects
on biodiversity is net-positive by 2030. The
company will now work to identify the kinds of
projects that will benefit natural ecosystems,
habitats and species.
To
drive this kind of bigger,
bolder and faster action for the ocean,
the UN High-Level Champions for Climate Action
are calling on at least 20 percent of the ocean
sector’s largest companies to commit this year
to reversing blue carbon ecosystems loss by 2030
and to publicly report their progress. This
includes fishing, aquaculture, container
shipping, cruise lines and ports companies, and
is based on the Champions’ new Climate
Action Pathway report
for the ocean sector.
The
shift to zero-emissions maritime transport,
offshore wind energy, the restoration and
protection of ocean ecosystems, and sustainable,
low-carbon seafood will simultaneously advance
the Covid-19 recovery, emissions reductions and
resilience. Accounting for the ocean and coastal
ecosystems in the first global
stocktake on the implementation of the Paris
Agreement,
held between 2021 and 2023, and taking action
across policy, research, civil society and
finance, will provide a further boost, according
to the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature.
The
UN Global Compact and the Champions, will delve
further into what national and local governments
and the private sector can do to accelerate
ocean-based climate solutions during a virtual
event today: Catalyzing the Ocean-Climate
Ambition Loop Towards COP26.
The event features global ocean leaders
including John Kerry, US special climate envoy,
and Thomas Thune Andersen, chairman of Ørsted
and Lloyd’s Register. This will set the scene
for World
Ocean Day
on Tuesday, under the theme ‘one ocean, one
climate, one future - together’.
| |
One Year into the Race to Zero: Leaders
Summit | |
The
past year has seen an unprecedented rise in the
number of companies, investors, cities, regions
and national governments committing to reach
net-zero emissions in the 2040s - many under the
UN Race to Zero campaign.
A
year after it launched, the Race to
Zero
now includes more than 2,300 companies, 700
cities, 160 investors and 24 cities, and is
running in parallel with its new sibling UN
campaign, the Race to
Resilience.
Both are helping to drive a 50 percent reduction
in global greenhouse gas emissions between 2020
and 2030 - while restoring nature and building
resilience for the 4 billion people most at risk
from the climate crisis now.
But
the private sector and local governments also
need to join UN Secretary-General António
Guterres and the High-Level Climate Champions in
calling on governments to strengthen their
climate policies. The UN Global Compact Leaders
Summit on 15-16 June will look at the
transformational shifts already underway and
what is needed to accelerate them. Breakout
sessions will focus on cities, transport,
bridging the gap between mitigation and
adaptation and engaging the youth, among other
issues. Complementary registration
available here.
| |
- The
Race to Resilience welcomed
the University of Chile’s Center for Climate and
Resilience Research as the Technical Secretariat
for the global campaign. (CR)2 join the
Executive Team of R2R with an open call to join
the Expert Review Group now open.
- The
UN Food and Agriculture Organization and UN
Environment Programme warned
in a report
last week that humans are already using 1.6
times the resources that nature can provide
sustainably. To address food security risks,
they said at least 1 billion degraded hectares
of land should be reinstated by 2030, and called
for similar commitments for the
ocean.
- More
than 50 UN experts last week called on countries
to recognize and implement the right to a safe,
clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a
vital response to the current multi-faceted
environmental crisis, the Office
of the UN Human Rights Commissioner
announced.
They pointed to the climate emergency, pervasive
toxic pollution, dramatic loss of biodiversity,
and a surge in emerging infectious diseases of
zoonotic origin, such as Covid-19.
- 23
governments joined together to launch plans to
drive global investment in clean energy
research, development and demonstrations this
decade, in the second
phase of the Mission Innovation
initiative
launched
in 2015. Mission Innovation 2.0’s members are
responsible for more than 90 percent of global
public investment in clean energy
innovation.
- There
is a 40 percent chance that the annual average
global temperature rise will temporarily reach
1.5°C in at least one of the next five years,
the World
Meteorological Organization warned.
There’s a 90 percent chance that at least one of
the next five years will become the warmest on
record, surpassing 2016.
- 37
percent of heat-related deaths worldwide can be
attributed to climate change, with deaths
increasing on every continent, according to a
report
in Nature Climate Change.
The findings support the need for greater
mitigation and adaptation work, it added.
- Leading
athletes have warned that climate-boosted heat
and humidity at the Tokyo Olympics next month
could create a “danger zone”, with a heightened
risk of heat exhaustion, heat cramps and heat
stroke, in a report released by the British
Association for Sustainable Sport.
- National
governments can and should localize their
Nationally Determined Contributions to the Paris
Agreement, by following the example set by work
on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for
2030, according to a policy
brief by Collaborative Climate Action.
Steps include incorporating efforts from local
governments, improving coordination between
different levels of government and addressing
links between sustainable development goals and
Paris climate commitments.
- The
chairs of the UNFCCC’s subsidiary bodies have
started developing a living
guideline
for
organizing the first global
stocktake on the
implementation of the Paris Agreement, being
held between 2021 and 2023.
- Developing
high-impact climate technology innovation
requires public-private cooperation, strong
ambition and consistent project management
across different stages of innovation,
participants agreed at the UNFCCC Technology
Executive Committee’s recent event with Future
Cleantech Architects. Find a summary
and recordings here.
Enjoyed
this round-up? Keep up to date with daily news
from the Race to Zero, Race to Resilience and
our partners on racetozero.unfccc.int!
| |
| | | | |
