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UN
Global Climate Action
22
May
2023 | |
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High-Level
Champions'
Newsletter | |
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High-Level
Champion sets out ambitious COP 28 vision at 14th
Petersberg Climate
Dialogue | |
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Speaking at this month’s
Petersberg Climate Dialogue, Her Excellency Razan
Al Mubarak, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion
for the COP 28 Presidency, called for
collaboration between governmental and business
stakeholders to halve emissions, reduce
biodiversity loss, address resilience and advance
equity.
The meeting has been hosted
annually by the German Government in collaboration
with the incoming Presidency of the UNFCCC
Conference of Parties and attended by
representatives of more than 40 countries since
2009. It plays an integral role in laying the
groundwork for the upcoming COP in Dubai this
November. In her opening address, H.E. Ms. Al
Mubarak outlined her ambitious vision shared by
Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, fellow High-Level Champion
for the COP 27 Presidency to accelerate non-Party
stakeholder action and engagement ahead of COP 28.
H.E. Ms. Al Mubarak said:
“To really mobilize change this year, three of the
most powerful things we can do is to embrace
nature positive action, mobilize finance at scale,
and be truly inclusive - ensuring that women,
youth and indigenous peoples are leading our
discussions.”
With six months until COP
28, H.E. Ms. Al Mubarak underlined that non-Party
stakeholders are already driving significant
cross-sector climate action - delivering tangible
progress on decarbonisation as well as adaptation
and financial flows. For example, the following
milestones and actions, activated through the
Marrakech Partnership, provide a framework to
deliver our goals for this decade.
● Approximately
11,000 Race to Zero members are committed to
collectively halve emissions by 2030.
● Commitments
to date made through the Race to Resilience aim to
make three billion people more resilient by 2030,
from the goal of four billion people by the same
time frame.
● The 2030
Breakthroughs are driving convergence and action
in nearly 30 different sectors from human
settlements to transport; from water to land
use.
● The
Sharm El Sheikh Adaptation Agenda is accelerating
adaptation across five systems: food and
agriculture, water, oceans, human settlements and
infrastructure.
H.E. Ms. Al Mubarak also
stressed the unique opportunity for the first
Global Stocktake, which will be concluded at COP
28 “...to put action and solutions at the heart of
our discussions”, course-correct climate action
towards 2030 and strengthen collaboration between
non-State and country entities - towards a net
zero, resilient, and just world.
H.E. Ms. Al Mubarak’s
speech can be watched here. | |
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Virtual meeting of
High-Level Champions and Marrakech Partnership
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At the Marrakech Partnership meeting earlier this
month, the High-Level Champions and over 90
partnership stakeholders held a fruitful
discussion on the 2023 Work Programme, progress on
adaptation, finance, and mitigation, as well as
the upcoming SB 58 sessions in June in Bonn,
Germany.
The Champions
conveyed the acknowledgement and interest of
Parties from the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in
the important work of non-Party stakeholders
within the Marrakech Partnership. The group
underscored the integral role of the Global
Stocktake for accelerating progress towards a 1.5
°C resilient world by 2050 and emphasised their
readiness to openly share progress, gaps and
challenges, as well as opportunities in order to
activate the ambition loop and collaboration with
Parties in the lead up to COP 28 and beyond.
Against this background, the High-Level Champions
highlighted the importance of referring to the
relevant work existing in the Climate Action
Pathways, Sharm El Sheikh Adaptation Agenda and
2030 Breakthrough to identify relevant solutions
for the Global Stocktake conclusion phase at COP
28.
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Upcoming IMO
Regulation Can Catalyse an Equitable Maritime
Transition | |
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The marine sector is
seven weeks away from a crucial watershed, as the
International Maritime Organisation (IMO) will
consider its revised GHG strategy which must align
shipping with a 1.5 °C trajectory, at the Marine
Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 80, 3 - 7
July).
It is hard to
overstate the importance of the strategy for
society’s response to climate change. The IMO
intends to set out a regulatory framework and
transitional path capable of decarbonizing the
world’s sixth largest emitting industry, the
shipping sector, responsible for three per cent of
global GHG emissions and projected to increase
without intervention.
The transition
promises to unlock major market opportunities. For
example, a key lever introduced outside the IMO at
COP 26 to decarbonise shipping is ‘Green Corridors’, which are
zero-emission maritime routes between ports,
within which operators will be incentivized for
meeting emissions standards.
However, the
opportunity for Small Island Developing States to
adopt clean innovation at scale, to access green
corridors, is less clear - as capital is typically
scarce in regions such as the South Pacific.
To drive progress,
the High-Level Champions; plus Race to Zero
members Bureau Veritas and Lloyd's Register; along
with key climate delivery partners; Getting to
Zero Coalition; UN Foundation; The Aspen
Institute; and Maersk Mckinney Moller Center for
Zero Carbon Shipping; recently held a Green
Corridors event at Singapore Maritime Week. The
event shared key learnings so far and discussed
the gaps blocking implementation of durable,
equitable and resilient Green
Corridors.
In this article, Asela Peneueta,
from the Pacific Island country, Tuvalu, speaks
frankly on the economic barriers that should be
unblocked to realise the new business
opportunities and socioeconomic benefits of Green
Corridors. | |
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Outrage
& Optimism – H.E. Razan Al Mubarak on Climate
& Nature: One & the
Same | |
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H.E. Razan Al Mubarak, UN
Climate Change High-Level Champion for the COP 28
Presidency joined the Outrage + Optimism podcast
in the latest episode, ‘Climate and Nature: One and the
Same’.
You can hear H.E. Ms. Al
Mubarak discuss her journey to her current role
and her passionate belief in the integral role of
nature as a solution to the climate crisis with
hosts Ms. Christiana Figueres, Mr. Tom
Rivett-Carnac and Mr. Paul Dickinson.
For a short video preview,
click here.
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Banks
Gather to Action Finance for Forests | |
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At last week’s UN Forum on
Forests (UNFF18) senior representatives of
multilateral and regional funding institutions and
banks gathered to share learnings on raising the
necessary finance to achieve the Global Forest Goals - to halt
and reverse deforestation and forest degradation
by 2030. For example, a representative from the
African Development Bank (AfDB) shared how they
are supporting forest restoration policy
interventions to build a green economy.
Through the Africa Union’s
Great Green Wall initiative, the AfDB seeks to plant
trees across 11 African countries in the Sahel and
Sahara Regions, while also leading efforts to
mobilize $33 billion to restore 100 million
hectares of degraded land; create 10 million jobs
and sequester 250 tons of carbon. Over $8.5
billion were mobilized through the African
Development Fund in the 2023-2025 financing cycle,
including a $429 million ‘Climate Action Window’
package.
“Africa’s forest will play an
essential role in the Continent’s and the planet’s
survival,” commented Ms. Vanessa Ushie, Acting
Director of the African Natural Resources
Management and Investment Centre at the African
Development Bank.
Elsewhere, the potential
for rural communities to lead sustainable land
management is growing through Race to Resilience
partner, Global EverGreening Alliance’s Restore Africa programme.
The Kenya-based programme, which turns one year
old this month, is the world’s largest
privately-funded, farmer-led land restoration
initiative programme. It has committed to restore
1.9 million hectares of land, equating to
supporting 1.5 million African smallholder farming
families. Restore Africa is also a major
contributor to the African Forest Landscape
Restoration Initiative (AFR100), which aims to
bring at least 100 million hectares of degraded
land under restoration by 2030.
For further
information, Ms. Juliette Biao, UNFF Forum
Director and UNEP’s former Director and Regional
Representative for Africa, shares her views on
sustainable forest management here. | |
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Race
to Zero latest developments:
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Built
Environment Players Assemble for Sector
Transition | |
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In April alone, six new
companies within the Built Environment sector joined the Race to Zero,
including Kerry Properties Limited, a Hong
Kong-based real estate company; and Daito Trust
Construction Co. Ltd., a Japanese real estate
company. These major companies promise to
contribute significantly to the sector’s efforts
to achieve net zero emissions.
Despite the positive
signals of change, currently, the Built
Environment sector is not on track to achieve
decarbonization by 2050. UNEP’s 2022 Buildings Global Status
Report shows that while decarbonization
efforts have increased since 2015, the gap between
the climate performance of the sector and the
decarbonization pathway is widening.
Our Built Environment
team’s tracking of the progress of ‘major’
businesses in the Race to Zero campaign has found
varying representation across sectoral stakeholder
groups, which is likely to act as a barrier for
the sector. Across the four sectoral groups,
including architects and engineers, construction
companies, real estate investment companies, and
asset managers, nearly half (49%) of major
architects and engineers by revenue have joined
the campaign, while only 16% of major construction
companies, by revenue, have joined.
To address this shortfall,
we need radical collaboration across the value
chain. The upcoming ‘Buildings Breakthrough,’ due for
launch ahead of COP 28, will provide a forum to
drive international government collaboration to
unlock climate action on buildings.
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Who’s
In The Race to Zero? | |
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To date, an alliance of
12,000+ Race to Zero members have committed to net
zero by 2050, comprising:
● 9,500+
companies (out of which 5,821 are SMEs)
● 49
states and regions
● 1,100+
cities
● 600+
financial institutions
● 1,100+
educational institutions
● 70+
healthcare institutions
● 60+
other organizations
All members of the Race to
Zero are committed to the same overarching goal:
to reduce emissions, across all scopes, swiftly
and fairly in line with the Paris Agreement, with
transparent action plans and robust
near-term targets. Together they form the
largest, growing, alliance of non-State actors
committed to taking rigorous and immediate action
to halve global emissions by 2030, and to deliver
a healthier, fairer zero carbon world by 2050.
Have you explored who’s in
the Race to Zero from your sector, country, or
region? Check out our refreshed 'Who's in?' section.
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Upgrading
Hotels for Net Zero
Travel | |
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Race to Zero member, Staze is a hotel booking
platform dedicated to reducing the environmental
impact of the hotel industry, by empowering
individuals to choose hotels around the world with
lower carbon footprints - for free. Businesses
that use Staze have reduced their carbon footprint
from hotel stays by up to 70%.
As a member of the Tech
Zero coalition of companies, Staze has pledged to
achieve net zero, in line with the Science Based
Targets Initiative Net Zero Standard, by 2028. The
company uses its profits to offset the carbon
footprint of hotels booked through its site, using
verified projects that align with the Oxford
Principles for Aligned Net Zero Carbon
Offsetting. | |
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Race
to Resilience latest developments:
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This
year we formally welcomed two new partners to the
Race: | |
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1. Sanitation and Water for
All (SWA),
a global partnership to achieve universal access
to clean water and adequate
sanitation.
2. The Global Fund for Coral
Reefs
(GFCR), an alliance between member states,
philanthropy, financial institutions and United
Nations agencies, who are collaborating to
establish a new paradigm for ocean conservation.
Through blended finance, they are mobilizing
action and resources to protect and restore coral
reef ecosystems worldwide.
Today the Race to
Resilience (RtR) campaign has a total of 36
partners working with more than 2,000 members to
build the resilience of those most vulnerable to
the climate crisis. Our ultimate goal is to
mobilize cities, regions, businesses and investors
and civil society to build the resilience of four
billion people.
Join the
race. | |
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News
from the RtR Methodological Advisory Group (MAG)
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The campaign is
currently in the process of selecting new members
to the Methodological Advisory Group (MAG) after
an Open Call for Nominations. The MAG advises the
development and refinement of the RtR Metrics
Framework and the methodological processes
associated with its application, aiming to ensure
the credibility, transparency, and robustness of
the RtR campaign.
Stay tuned for the
announcement of the new members.
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A flagship campaign of
Race to Resilience with the goal to deliver
resilient, affordable, low carbon homes for two
billion people by 2050, will be hosting its first
Roundtable in the LAC Region, to explore new
partnerships for locally driven action. The
Roundtable will take place on the 31 May online
with the special participation of
TECHO. | |
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Don’t miss the
following events led by RtR
Partners: | |
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Resilience Finance
Days Latin America and the Caribbean
25-26 May.
More info.
Insurance Development
Forum Summit 2023
1- 2 June
More info. | |
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● The COP 28 Presidency
has published a draft thematic program for COP
28,
outlining the potential theme days that would be
run in both the Blue and Green Zones. The draft
program is open for comments from all stakeholders
before being finalized in early June.
● The call for Expressions of Interest to host a
COP
28 UAE Blue Zone pavilion is now open. All
Parties to the UNFCCC and more than 3,000
accredited observer organizations are invited to
apply before 15
June 2023.
● The Information Note outlining the
arrangements of the third and final meeting of the
technical dialogue (TD1.3) of the global stocktake
to take place at the Bonn Climate Change
Conference (SB 58) in June in Bonn, Germany, has
been published. In addition, the co-facilitators of the technical
dialogue
invite Parties to the Paris Agreement and
non-Party stakeholders to submit a one-page poster before
22 May,
summarizing their inputs to TD1.3, to be displayed
at the SB 58 session.
● The Asian Development
Bank (ADB) announced the Innovative Finance Facility for
Climate in Asia and the Pacific (IF-CAP) is expected to bring
in approximately $3 billion, unlocking up to $15
billion of new ADB climate projects and could
significantly ramp up support for the region in
the battle against climate change through a
leveraged guarantee mechanism.
● To enhance the
transparency of all ongoing work at UN Climate
Change, Executive Secretary Simon Stiell has
committed to publish quarterly reports. The
first report covers the period
from 1 January to 31 March and provides an
overview of the progress made by Parties and in
the process as the UN Climate Change advances its
mission to mobilize climate action and support
countries in their transition to a low-carbon,
climate-resilient future.
● During the
Sustainable Investment Forum on 9 May 2023, the UN
Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell
shared remarks on why climate finance matters in
his speech. The remarks
emphasized that climate finance is about people,
not just numbers on a balance sheet, it’s about
protecting communities from the devastating
impacts of climate change, and it's about building
a more equitable economy.
● Following C40-Mayors
Migration Council mayors’ calls to invest in urban
resilience and inclusion, USAID announced a
new US$1 million investment across the Latin
America and Caribbean region to help build cities’
resilience to the impacts of climate change, with
a focus on addressing the unique needs of migrant
communities.
● The ASEAN Renewable Energy Regional
Approach report released by the
ASEAN Centre for Energy and UNESCAP identifies the
status and potential of different renewable energy
technologies in each of the ASEAN Member States,
evaluates the impact of renewable energy uptake on
the socio-economic development, and provides
recommendations that tackle the bottlenecks in
achieving energy security, affordability and
accessibility in Southeast Asia. | |
Keeping up with the
Champions | |
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● H.E. Ms. Al Mubarak
addresses 14th Petersberg Climate
Dialogue
H.E. Razan Al
Mubarak gave an opening address to government
Ministers and representatives at the 14th
Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin. H.E. Ms. Al
Mubarak underlined the significant work that
non-Party stakeholders are doing to accelerate
progress towards a net zero and resilient world by
2050.
● Mohieldin chairs the
GFANZ Africa network advisory board
meeting
Recently, Mohieldin,
co-chaired the first 2023
meeting of the ‘GFANZ Africa’ network advisory
board. Promising financing opportunities are
expected to arise this year from the African Carbon Markets Initiative
(ACMI) and the upcoming second round of the
Africa Regional Forum, in partnership with the UN
Economic Commission for Africa.
● H.E.
Ms.
Al
Mubarak appears on the Outrage & Optimism
podcast
H.E. Razan Al
Mubarak appears as the guest for the latest
episode of the podcast Outrage + Optimism: ‘Climate and Nature: One and the
Same’.
● Mohieldin
and Major General Al-Haggan, Governor of Qalyubia,
Egypt discuss ‘National Smart Green Projects
Initiative’
Dr. Mohieldin and UN
Special Envoy on Financing 2030 Sustainable
Development Agenda, met with Major General Abdel
Hamid Al-Haggan, Governor of Qalyubia, Egypt, to
discuss the region’s involvement in the ‘National Initiative for Smart Green
Projects.’
The initiative, which launched prior to COP 27,
has been designed to increase competitiveness
among clean technology development projects, and
to drive investment in Egyptian cities and
governorates.
● Al
Mubarak addresses Nature4Climate Coalition
Meeting
H.E. Razan Al
Mubarak addressed more than 20 partners of the
nature-based multi-stakeholder coalition Nature4Climate (N4C). Al Mubarak
raised the importance of nature within the climate
agenda, in the context of the Global
Stocktake.
H.E. Ms. Al
Mubarak also highlighted the role for the
coalition to support the COP 28 Presidency’s aim
to integrate nature into all workstreams, from
energy and industry; cities, transport and waste;
land, oceans, water and food; societies, to people
and livelihoods.
● Mohieldin received the
honorary doctorate degree from Ain Shams
University, Cairo
During the 11th conference of Ain
Shams University, Cairo, which was held under the
auspices and presence of Dr. Ayman Ashour,
Minister of Higher Education and Scientific
Research, and Dr. Mahmoud El-Metini, President of
Ain Shams University, Mohieldin received the
honorary doctorate degree for his remarkable local
and international contributions in the field of
economics.
● Al
Mubarak attends Ajman University, UAE’s ‘Make It
Sustainable’ Forum
H.E. Razan Al
Mubarak attended the ‘Make it Sustainable’ Forum,
organized by the UAE’s Ajman University, in
partnership with the Ministry of Climate Change
and Environment.
The event focused on the role of
Higher Education institutions in promoting
sustainability and climate action. In this
context, H.E.
Ms. Al Mubarak called for bold solutions to
be created by the UAE youth community - for the
UAE community. H.E. Ms. Al
Mubarak also highlighted the role of the COP 28
Youth Climate Champion, H.E. Shamma Al Mazrui,
whose role is to ensure that youth have a say in
decisions made that will impact their
future.
● Mohieldin chaired the
Second Consultation Meeting for the Green Climate
Fund
Mohieldin facilitated
a two-day virtual meeting with over 100
current and prospective contributors to the Green
Climate Fund (GCF); the world’s largest climate
fund mandated to support low emission,
climate-resilient development
pathways.
The meeting discussed
the process for the second replenishment of the
Fund for developing countries, specifically to
fund implementation between 2024 – 2027. At the
meeting, Mohieldin reminded participants of the
urgency of the climate crisis and of the
importance of supporting the GCF to keep
climate action alive.
● In Rabat, Mohieldin
raises the next generation of climate finance with
the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF)
On the Road to COP 28 and the IMF-WB
Fall Meetings, the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) hosted
a High-Level Policy Roundtable on
climate finance to achieve sustainable
development.
In the meeting, Mohieldin emphasised
that developing countries do not have the luxury
of excluding any means of financing climate
action. This underlines the importance of
activating carbon trade, while ensuring that
trading actually mitigates
emissions, rather than just transferring
emissions from seller to buyer.
● Mohieldin speaks at the
Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Annual Meetings
2023
At the IsDB Annual Meetings, Mahmoud
Mohieldin spoke on the theme of “Key Achievements
of the G20 Indonesian Presidency (2022): The Case
of Energy Transition and Climate.” In the meeting,
Mohieldin highlighted a range of promising
partnership models between the public and private
sectors in Egypt, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. He
also stressed that “fair and adequate financing,
technological solutions, knowledge exchange and
behavioural change” are indispensable for the
success of the development and climate
agenda.
The
High-Level Champion commended the support of the
G20 for the decisions of the Sharm El-Sheikh
Climate Change Conference, especially with regards
to the launch of the Loss and Damage Fund and the
launch of the Sharm El-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda,
which includes five main areas of action: food and
agriculture, water and nature, coasts and oceans,
human settlements, and
infrastructure | |
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