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UN
Climate Change – Global Climate Action
07
June
2024 | |
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High-Level
Champions'
Newsletter | |
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Raising
ambition in Bonn: High-Level Champions set out
their agenda for COP 29 | |
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In the six months since a global
pledge to transition away from fossil fuels was
made in the UAE, the devastating reality of
climate change has continued to hit hard across
the globe.
From ferocious heat across Asia to
fatal floods in Kenya, Brazil and Afghanistan,
people around the world are paying with their
lives, livelihoods, health and wellbeing.
As delegates gather in Bonn for the
60th sessions of the Subsidiary Bodies (SB 60),
which is a key milestone in the UNFCCC process
towards COP 29, we must catalyse action and move
from pledges to concrete plans.
High-Level Champions:
Roadmap for action
With increasing clarity on the
direction of travel, and growing momentum for
action in the real economy, the High-Level
Champions are hosting and participating in a
series of public events, roundtables and workshops
in Bonn, with Marrakech Partnership, partners and
government representatives - to share insights and
information, and discuss the remaining barriers
that require cooperation to overcome.
These discussions are intended to
continue to foster collaboration between
governments and non-State entities, and to support
the ratcheting of ambition and delivery of
ambitious 1.5°C-aligned and resilient national
climate plans (Nationally Determined
Contributions, or ‘NDCs’) in 2025.
These include: a discussion to
highlight real-economy and whole-of-society
opportunities to help facilitate the
implementation of the UAE Consensus, including the
outcome of the global stocktake; a dialogue
between cities, states and regions, governments,
and other stakeholders on how to ensure multilevel
partnership towards enhanced NDCs, including
through initiatives such as the Coalition
for High Ambition Multi-Level Partnership
(CHAMP); showcasing progress and discussing next
steps on the nature
positive call for action; and accelerating
adaptation and resilience action in line with the
Global Goal on Adaptation and the Sharm
El-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda 2030 Solutions;
engagements with representatives of the
Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform;
a workshop on mainstreaming gender priorities
ahead of COP 29; and a session with
representatives of the finance and business
community on their contributions to a successful
COP 29 and delivering ambitious NDCs.
The High-Level Champions are also
laying out additional key priorities ahead of COP
29, as outlined in the Work
Programme for the High-Level Champions and
Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action
for 2024. These include scaling finance for
the restoration and protection of nature,
increasing the flow of capital to developing
countries and Indigenous Peoples, creating a
highway for climate finance towards investable
NDCs, empowering Small and Medium Enterprises
across the globe to capitalise on the economic
opportunity available in the green economy and
ensuring an inclusive COP 29 where all voices are
heard.
In addition, the High-Level
Champions are meeting and engaging with Marrakech
Partnership focal points and other stakeholders to
collectively align on a roadmap of global climate
action towards COP 29, in the context of
implementing 2030 Climate Solutions for enhanced
NDCs. This is a crucial opportunity for the
Champions to connect with Parties of the
UNFCCC process ahead of COP 29.
Through the 2030
Climate Solutions - incorporating the 2030
Breakthroughs, and the
Sharm
El-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda - the tools
and frameworks exist to inform and support
national governments to develop targets in line
with the Paris Agreement.
No
turning back
The transformation is already
underway. Renewables now account for a record 30% of
global electricity, and solar and wind are already cheaper than
fossil fuels in 82% of the world with
their prices set to halve this
decade.
In addition to these
positive market signals, progress and investment
in climate solutions, the High-Level
Champions for COP 28 and COP 29, Razan
Khalifa Al Mubarak and Nigar Arpadarai will
showcase the breadth and depth of work already
underway across the real economy and areas of
society to triple renewable energy and double
energy efficiency while decarbonising all sectors
of the global economy, protecting nature, and
helping vulnerable communities adapt and become
resilient to the ever present threats of climate
change.
Progress since COP
28
Since COP 28, the High-Level
Champions and the Marrakech Partnership have
continued to support and advance non-State climate
action by a diverse set of key players, including
sub-national
government, industry, business, finance, civil
society and Indigenous Peoples.
More and more real economy leaders
are taking action. After adding three Partner
initiatives last year, the Race to
Zero welcomed the Net-Zero Export Credit
Agency as a Partner in 2024 and added two
Accelerators in Indonesia and West Africa.
Similarly, building on the USD $40 billion
mobilised by the Race to
Resilience Partners in 2023, the campaign has
welcomed an additional eight partners including
the Climate
Centre for Cities and the Green
Africa Youth Organization.
Momentum continues to grow in the
decarbonization of industry too. The 96 members of
the First Movers Coalition have now committed
to buying US$16 billion worth of emerging
climate technologies by 2030.
Likewise, during the Fourteenth
Session of the International Renewable Energy
Agency (IRENA) Assembly, 32 utilities and
power companies serving 350 million customers
unveiled their roadmap and action plan to
accelerate the shift to net-zero emissions before
2050 through the Global
Utilities for Net Zero Alliance.
The Nature
Positive for Climate Action campaign continues
to gain momentum with over 3,200 businesses and
financial institutions committing to
nature-focused targets, disclosures, and
investments. Similarly, the Mangrove Breakthrough
has advanced since COP 28 with the launch of its
governance structure, including the inaugural
meeting of the Mangrove
Breakthrough Council in May.
The shipping industry is also
pulling together to advance the switch to green
hydrogen with a coalition of the willing,
including producers, ports and shipowners - all
actively advocating for policy that incentivises
the early uptake of the alternative fuel.
This is a snapshot of progress since
COP 28 and how the High-Level Champions and
Marrakech Partnership are contributing to this
transformational change as outlined here.
As a way to take stock of this recent progress and
more broadly over the last decade, the High-Level
Champions are requesting feedback from national
governments and all stakeholders on how they can
help accelerate even further action going
forward.
The Champions laid out how best to
do so in a letter to
Parties and non-Party stakeholders.
See here
for the full High-Level Champions public events
programme in Bonn.
Non-State Actor
Engagement in the UNFCCC Process at Bonn (SB
60) | |
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Credit:
UN Climate Change: Amira
Grotendiek | |
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UN Climate Change
Executive Secretary Simon Stiell's opening
remarks at
the June UN Climate Meetings (60th Subsidiary
Bodies) on 3 June 2024 emphasized how the
global community can't afford rest stops, detours
or stumbles at this halfway point in humanity's
climate journey. It is critical that
all stakeholders are on board and there are
various opportunities for all to actively engage
throughout these meetings.
Representatives from
national governments, NGOs, academia, private
sector, and others met this week to discuss the
characteristics of the new climate finance goal
during the 10th Technical Expert
Dialogue (TEDs) of the New
Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate
finance.
The NCQG process offers a space for
convergence among international finance
institutions and investors and can facilitate
interaction between all actors. The Marrakech
Partnership Finance Group made a submission ahead of the dialogue
with respect to mobilizing the trillions,
improving effectiveness and supporting greater
access to finance and facilitated the development
of private sector guidance on how NDCs can
catalyze finance.
Another key finance event is the first
workshop under the Sharm el-Sheikh dialogue on
financial flows on 12-13 June, 10:00-13:00 (CEST).
The focus will
be on adaptation investments and the consistency
of financial flows with a climate-resilient
development pathway, as well as linkages to
broader sustainable development co-benefits and
impacts.
Also to keep on the
radar is the first Annual
Global Stocktake Dialogue on 6-7 June, which
will provide a platform for open discussions and
exchanges between national governments and
non-State actors on lessons, experiences and
practical solutions to address implementation gaps
in current national climate plans (or NDCs) by
accelerating action; and closing ambition gaps in
the next
NDCs. | |
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Setting
the Stage for African Climate Leadership: A
conversation with Bogolo
Kenewendo | |
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Global
Economist, Bogolo Kenewendo. (Credit: Uyapo
Ketogetswe,
Bona267). |
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Bogolo Kenewendo is a
global leader in Pan-African development,
specialising in sustainable trade and investment,
and accelerating innovation across the
continent.
Until recently,
Bogolo was the Special Advisor to the UN Climate
Change High-Level Champions, and Africa Director,
where she played a leading role in implementing
the Champions’ plans for accelerating ambition and
action in Africa, and delivering a transformative
COP 27.
As one of the
founders of the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative,
Kenewendo recently spoke at the Africa CEO
Summit, on
the theme of carbon markets. We spoke to Kenewendo
about shaping solutions to deliver affordable
finance for climate and development in low-income
regions, such as Africa; tackling sovereign debt
to free up adaptation finance; the potential to
harness carbon markets in Africa; and her hopes
for COP 29 to deliver as ‘the finance
COP.
Click here for
the full article. | |
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Investors
gather for Brazil's Ecological
Transformation | |
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The inaugural Brazil
Climate Investment Week convened more
than 100 domestic and international investors and
business leaders in São Paulo last month, to
catalyze private investment in the country’s
climate solutions, including renewable energy, and
biodiversity protection.
The devastating floods in Rio Grande
do Sol, Brazil have elevated the importance of the
summit. Brazil is racing to deliver aid to
flood-stricken communities in the south, where the
death toll
has exceeded 165 people, at least 581,000
people have been displaced, and the federal
government has allocated more than 348 million USD
to recovery and rescue efforts so far.
The Summit focused on scaling the
most promising opportunities in climate and
nature-based solutions in Brazil to deliver the
nation’s Ecological
Transformation Plan, which was announced
at COP 28 as the country’s primary vehicle for
tackling the climate crisis. Annual investment of
USD 130 -
160 billion is needed over the next 10
years—mainly in infrastructure— to deliver against
the transformation plan.
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High-Level Champion for COP
28, Razan Al Mubarak, addressed the Brazil Climate
Finance Summit (click below to view her
remarks). | |
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Within the week, the Nature-based Solutions (NbS)
Investment Summit also hosted sessions on the
economic policy context, regulatory drivers, risk
management and blended finance in NbS. In
attendance were Brazil’s top NbS investment funds,
developers and enterprises representing a variety
of solutions and asset classes.
Her Excellency, Razan Al Mubarak,
the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP
28, highlighted that Brazil’s Presidency of key
global summits, including the G20, over the next
18 months creates a perfect opportunity to
galvanise investment:
Click here for the full video
message. | |
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Business
on the agenda in
Baku | |
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Nigar
Arpadarai, the UN Climate Change High-Level
Champion for COP
29. | |
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The critical role of business in
ambitious climate action was on the agenda at the
Baku Business Forum. Local businesses, government
officials and international stakeholders came
together to discuss how the private sector can
support the transition to a resilient, net zero
future and the opportunities for businesses in the
COP 29 host country to invest in the green
economy.
In her opening remarks, Nigar
Arpadarai, the UN Climate Change High-Level
Champion for COP 29 said the Forum served “as a
platform to highlight the pressing issues of
climate impacts and risks, and to recognize the
interconnectedness of environmental sustainability
and business
success.” | |
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Race to Resilience
update: |
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Partner
updates
● Two
new Partners have joined the Campaign, taking the
total to 36; now collectively pledging to increase
the resilience of 3.17 billion people by 2030:
○ International Transformational
Resilience Coalition (ITRC): A network of
organizations focused on building capacity for
mental wellness - and social, psychological and
behavioural resilience to the climate
emergency.
○ EHAB:
Weather Risk Platform: A weather risk
management platform that helps businesses forecast
and reduce weather and climate impact in the
context of construction projects, energy assets,
ports, farms, mines, etc.
● Celebrating Build Change: Two
decades of providing climate resilient housing
Build
Change has yielded transformative results
since 2004, making 1.17 million people and 230,000
buildings safer, and preserving around USD 4.7
billion in assets.
● Strengthening climate resilience in
Senegal through digital agricultural
finance.
Our partner Scale for
Resilience is providing digital and financial
solutions to increase the resilience of Senegal's
smallholder farmers. The project has
already benefited more than 77,000 people, of
which 78% are
women. | |
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Partner
updates
● Two
new Partners have joined the Campaign, taking the
total to 36; now collectively pledging to increase
the resilience of 3.17 billion people by 2030:
○ International Transformational
Resilience Coalition (ITRC): A network of
organizations focused on building capacity for
mental wellness - and social, psychological and
behavioural resilience to the climate
emergency.
○ EHAB:
Weather Risk Platform: A weather risk
management platform that helps businesses forecast
and reduce weather and climate impact in the
context of construction projects, energy assets,
ports, farms, mines, etc.
● Celebrating Build Change: Two
decades of providing climate resilient housing
Build
Change has yielded transformative results
since 2004, making 1.17 million people and 230,000
buildings safer, and preserving around USD 4.7
billion in assets.
● Strengthening climate resilience in
Senegal through digital agricultural
finance.
Our partner Scale for
Resilience is providing digital and financial
solutions to increase the resilience of Senegal's
smallholder farmers. The project has
already benefited more than 77,000 people, of
which 78% are
women. | |
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● OpEd:
A Turning
Point for Clean Cooking: In conjunction
with the recent IEA Clean Cooking
Summit where
USD 2.2 billion in public and private
sector funding, financing and investment was
pledged, Razan Al Mubarak, the High-Level Champion
for COP 28, and Joseph Nganga of the Global
Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP)
summarised the opportunity for ‘clean cooking for
all’ in Project
Syndicate.
The two leaders called for a step-change in
clean cooking funding in Africa which
represents “... a
commitment that the Global North must make to the
continent that has contributed the least to global
warming but is nonetheless most vulnerable to its
effects.”
● Kate
Brandt,
Chief Sustainability Officer at Google reflects on
leading the company’s green revolution in our net zero
leadership story. Want
to showcase a leader’s story? Submit your
nominations here.
● At the World Bank
and International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s Spring
meetings on
17-19 April, which were geared around the theme of
‘Vision to Impact,’ developed countries pledged
USD 11bn to help boost the World Bank’s lending
capacity.
● The 15th
Petersberg Climate Dialogue (PCD) on 25-26 April
gathered representatives from around 40 countries
in Berlin to advance towards an ambitious outcome
at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 29) in
Baku, with a strong emphasis on finance for
climate change mitigation. Nigar Arpadarai, the UN
Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP 29 met
numerous government, business & civil society
leaders at Petersberg - advancing conversations on
climate cooperation, and supporting an open
dialogue ahead of the Azerbaijan COP.
● On 24 May, the
co-chairs of the
Net-Zero Recognition and Accountability Framework
Consultation submitted recommendations to the UNFCCC
arising from the independent consultation. The
consultation – and the recommendations flowing
from it – are in response to an invitation from UN
Climate Change Executive Secretary, Simon Stiell
on how best to operationalize the Recommendation 8
of the ‘Integrity
Matters Report’ by the Expert Group
established by the UN Secretary General, Antonio
Guterres.
● On 27-29 May,
non-State actors engaged in the third
global dialogue (GD) and investment-focused event
(IFE)
under
the Sharm
el-Sheikh mitigation ambition and implementation
work programme in Bonn, Germany
(hybrid), which included expert presentations,
breakout discussions and pitch hub sessions.
Webcasts are available on the event
page. The
High-Level Champions and Marrakech Partnership
have supported the co-chairs of the work programme
and the UNFCCC secretariat by providing
substantive expertise to shape the GD and IFE, by
strengthening the integration of the High-Level
Champions’ Regional
Platforms for Climate Projects pipeline into the
IFE, and by mobilizing non-state actors to engage
in the activities. Three
projects
from the High-Level Champions pipeline were
presented in the pitch hubs to explore how to
bring these projects to financial
close.
● The High-Level
Champions and Marrakech Partnership, in
collaboration with the UNFCCC secretariat and its
Regional Collaboration Centres, are inviting
non-Party stakeholders across all regions to
share
perspectives via this
survey by
end of June on priority solutions, specific
barriers/challenges and enabling conditions of
adaptation and mitigation in the framework of
the 2030
Climate Solutions. Inputs received
will help
ensure the implementation of the 2030 Climate
Solutions reflects the context and needs of all
regions;
is effective, inclusive, participatory, and
accountable; and effectively contributes to
providing solutions to the design of the next
round of Nationally Determined
Contributions. | |
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● 60th Sessions of the
UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies, 3 -13 June,
Bonn, Germany
● Sustainable Energy for All Global
Forum, 4-6 June, Bridgetown, Barbados
● High-Level
International Conference on the International
Decade for Action "Water for Sustainable
Development" (2018-2028), 10-13 June,
Dushanbe, Tajikistan
● 2024 Ocean
& Climate Change Dialogue, 11-12 June,
Bonn, Germany
● G7 Summit
2024, 13-15 June, Puglia, Italy
● ICLEI
World Congress 2024, 18-21 June São Paulo,
Brazil
● London
Climate Action Week, 22-30
June, London, UK
● 26th
International Union of Forest Research
Organizations World Congress, 23-29 June,
Stockholm, Sweden
● European
Urban Resilience Forum 2024, 26-28 June,
Valencia, Spain
● World
Water Week 2024, 25-29 August, Stockholm,
Sweden
● 79th
Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), 10-24
September, New York, USA
● Summit of
the Future, 22-23 September, New York, USA
● New York
Climate Week, 22 –
27 September, New York, USA
● 10th
European Conference on Sustainable Cities and
Towns, 1-3 October, Aalborg, Denmark
● United
Nations Convention on Biological Diversity COP
16, 21 October - 1 November, Colombia
● UNFCCC COP
29, 11-24 November, Baku, Azerbaijan
● G20 Summit
2024, 18-19 November, Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil
● United
Nations Convention to Combat Desertification COP
16, 2-13 December, Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia | |
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