UN
Climate Change
Global
Climate Action
30
November
2020 | |
We
are not yet on track to reach zero emissions by
2050, and to get there we will need to make big,
fast, exponential changes this decade in the way
we care for our citizens, power our homes and
economies, eat, travel and consume products. The
challenge is huge, but so is our optimism. As
the nine-day series of Race to
Zero Dialogues
this month showed, the path to transformation is
already clear and underway in eight key, heavy
carbon polluting sectors of the economy.
“We
cannot wait for 195 countries to all sing the
right song simultaneously,” Johan Rockström,
director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate
Impact Research, said on
the closing day
of the Dialogues that also included Heads of
State and a hand-over to the Chairs of the
Subsidiary Bodies, the COP25 President and the
UNFCCCC Executive Secretary for the UNFCCC
Climate Dialogues these two weeks. “But we are
seeing large enough alliances, large enough
keystone actors, large enough numbers of
businesses, communities, cities, countries that
are big enough minorities to tip over the logic
in different oceans of inertia that we are
seeing in the world.”
The
Climate
Action Pathways,
released at the start of the Dialogues, sets the
roadmap for a zero-emissions and resilient
economy across these eight sectors. For example:
- Energy:
decarbonization
will be reached with aggressive efficiency
measures, a mass expansion of renewables,
electrification of end-use sectors and a shift
from fossil to zero-emission liquid and gaseous
fuels. Renewables are already cheaper to build
than fossil fuel power plants in 85 percent of
the world, but their deployment needs to
accelerate by five or six times.
- Industry:
decarbonization
requires a reduction of materials and energy
use, an increase in the productivity of
materials and energy use, and a cut in emissions
from production processes.
- Water:
A
triple transformation — in the protection of
water resources, freshwater ecosystems and
people; in food and energy production and water
infrastructure for cities and industries; and in
the reuse of water and wastewater — will help
both mitigate climate change and reduce risks
such as droughts and floods.
These
are the kinds of all-economy transformations
that UN Secretary-General António Guterres
called for at the UN Climate Action Summit in
2019 and continues to highlight as part of the
world’s recovery from Covid-19. “The response to
Covid-19 has shown us that, when people see it
is necessary, we can quickly change how we live,
work, consume and cooperate,” Guterres told the
Youth4Climate event
during the Dialogues. “Major and rapid
change is exactly what we need in the fight
against climate disruption.” A full wrap-up of
the Dialogues can be found here
and
the on-demand videos and outcomes of the
sessions will be posted shortly here.
Expect
renewed spotlight on the need for a global ramp
up in climate action at the Climate
Ambition Summit on December 12
(the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement),
hosted by the UN, UK and France in partnership
with Italy and Chile.
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The State of Climate
Action | |
But this can change, fast. Throughout
history, systemic changes haven’t evolved inch
by linear inch — they have exploded into our
lives exponentially. Think of how Ford’s Model T
transformed the way we move, work and
manufacture, or how smartphones upended the way
we communicate and access information. The same
can happen, and is already underway, in our race
to an emissions-free economy.
The report assesses 21 indicators of
emissions reductions in agriculture,
electricity, buildings, industry, transport and
forests. Two of those indicators, both for
agriculture, are changing in line with meeting
the 2030 and 2050 goals. Crop yields, needed to
feed an expected 10 billion people by 2050, grew
slightly faster than the necessary rate between
2012 and 2017, while the consumption of meat and
dairy ruminant animals declined at the necessary
global rate in the same period.
Another 13 indicators are heading in the
right direction but too slowly. They include the
rising share of renewables in the power mix; the
falling share of unabated coal in power; the
shrinking energy intensity of commercial and
residential buildings; the declining carbon
intensity of cement; and the growth in gross
tree forest cover.
These findings make clear the urgent need
to ramp up action across the public and private
sectors, and the opportunity to do so together
ahead of the COP26 summit in 2021. Because, as
the report also shows, while progress is still
lagging in most areas, there are opportunities
to catch up across all six
sectors. | |
Invitation to Contribute to the Net Zero
Climate
Aggregator | |
Now, the
SME Climate Hub partners have joined forces with
Oxford University’s Net Zero
Climate
Research and Engagement Team to provide small
and medium-sized businesses with a database of
practical tools and resources to curb emissions
and build business resilience. If you have a
tool or resource you would like to contribute
for review, please include it here.
| |
More News from Race To
Zero | |
- The new Green
Gigaton Challenge aims to shore up enough
funds to reduce 1 gigaton of high-quality
emissions with forests by 2025. Its effect would
equate to taking 80 percent of cars off US
roads.
- Achieving universal access to affordable,
sustainable energy by 2030 is a crucial stepping
stone in the race to zero emissions by 2050, but
finance for it remains significantly off track,
according to a report by Sustainable Energy for All.
- The new Road
Freight Zero coalition will work to
fast-track zero-emissions trucking fleets and
infrastructure by 2030.
- The CA100+investor initiative,
whose members are responsible for two-thirds of
annual global industrial emissions, launched a
consultation on a strategy for decarbonizing the
power sector.
- The British Retail Consortium released its
roadmap to a net-zero-emissions retail industry
by 2040, with more than 60 signatories.
- Firstmovers in the shipping industry’s shift
to zero emissions can, in the next three to four
years, jointly fast-track technology trials and
regulatory approvals; locate pilot projects next
to low-cost renewable electricity and repurpose
and retrofit existing infrastructure and assets,
according to a Global
Maritime Forum report.
- The new Pathfinder Initiative, led by
the London School of Hygiene & Tropical
Medicine, aims to show how policies that both
improve health and address climate change can
yield multiple benefits for people and the
planet.
- Industry association Water
UK and Chilean water utility Aguas
Andinas aim to cut their emissions to net
zero by 2030.
- C40 Cities, the Global Covenant of
Mayors for Climate and Energy and CDP will
recruit as many as 1,000
cities to deliver climate action in line
with limiting global warming to 1.5°C and
initiate a green and just recovery from
Covid-19.
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