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UN
Global Climate Action
2
December
2023 | |
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Top
of the COP
High-Level
Champions' Newsletter for
COP28 | |
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Nature and climate action
ramps up across the real
economy | |
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The
second day of COP28 marked significant commitments
from world leaders at the COP28 World Climate
Action Summit (WCAS) on youth, health, nature,
water and energy, with H.E. Razan Al Mubarak
hosting seven heads of state for the WCAS nature
event. Leading real economy actors are providing
the solutions, capital, and insights to support
them in turning these commitments into real and
immediate emissions reductions which restore
nature and protect climate vulnerable
communities.
Nature
- The UAE
COP28 Presidency and its partners announced a
series of major initiatives and funding for
simultaneous
nature and climate action in developing
countries during
today’s WCAS nature event. Visit the Presidency’s website for
more details.
- The
number of
businesses
and investors who have joined the Nature Positive for Climate
Action call
has reached over 150 since it was launched by
Razan Al Mubarak last summer. This includes
adopting science-based targets for
nature, following guidance for
food, and use and agriculture, and disclosing
their impacts, risks and opportunities through
the Task Force on Nature-Related
Financial Disclosures, and
addressing deforestation risk.
- The
Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net
Zero
(GFANZ)
will release recommendations today to
holistically embed nature into its net zero
emissions transition plan framework. The
initiative will build on the globally consistent
transition framework GFANZ has developed for
unlocking the trillions of dollars needed to
protect and restore nature which is essential to
achieve net zero emissions and limit warming to
1.5oC.
- The
Urban Nature Program
launched today will bolster nature-focused
investments and integration in urban
environments by providing financial and
technical support to catalyse urban natural
solutions. The initiative will spotlight over 20
pioneering cities and encourage a growing number
of ambitious cities to integrate nature into
their strategies
Energy
and Industry Decarbonization
- The COP28
President, alongside a coalition of 56
governments, today announced 29
priority actions for the Breakthrough
Agenda
to
accelerate decarbonization in the power, road
transport, steel, hydrogen and agriculture
sectors which represent more than half of global
emissions. This comes in
response to the Breakthrough Agenda Report
2023,
co-authored by the High-Level Champions with IEA
and IRENA.
- The COP28
Presidency, UN Climate Change and Bloomberg
Philanthropies also launched the Industrial
Transition Accelerator (ITA) for
heavy-emitting industries. With $30 billion of
funding, the ITA secretariat will be hosted by
Mission Possible Partnership. Alongside the
Breakthrough Agenda it will accelerate
decarbonization of heavy industry by bringing
together global industry leaders.
- Led by
the UAE, US, Canada, Germany, India, Morocco,
France, Egypt and the UK, the Breakthrough
Agenda action plan is designed to
advance collaborative action in 2024
in areas
such as standards and regulation, financial and
technical assistance, and market creation. It
sends a global shift that helps further unlock
the transformative power of financial markets,
industry, local communities and innovators to
deliver the breakthroughs needed
to halve emissions by 2030.
- 118
countries agreed today to double energy
efficiency and triple renewables
capacity, the
UAE Presidency announced. Energy
producers and consumers demonstrate that a
near-zero carbon economy is the growth story of
the future. Over 400 companies have
committed to purchase all of their electricity
from renewables by 2030. Over 200 companies
representing more than US$1.5 trillion in global
annual revenue have urged national
governments to ramp
up clean energy and accelerate a just
transition.
Africa
- A number
of African presidents announced the Africa Green
Industrialization Initiative and
operationalization of the Nairobi Declaration on Climate
Change,
launched at September’s Africa Climate Summit.
Today’s event showcased the UAE-led US$4.5
billion Africa Green Investment initiative for
clean industrialization.
- ICLEI -
Local Governments for Sustainability, today
announced a call to action for empowering
Africa’s cities to scale up the transition
to clean cooking.
Clean cooking
technologies can
reduce emissions, reduce demand for firewood and
charcoal, and alleviate pressure on forests and
nature.
Local
government action
- In a
significant boost for cities, regions, and
states, the UAE COP28 Presidency and
Bloomberg Philanthropies on Friday launched an
initiative to foster multi-level governance and
collaboration with national governments – the
Coalition for High Ambition
Multi-Level Partnership, with
endorsement from 63 countries. The coalition
sets out a new process through which subnational
governments can contribute to the execution of
ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions,
and the announcement of a new US$65 million
commitment to support city networks.
- Over
1,162 cities have now signed up to the Race to Zero
campaign and set
science-aligned targets for net zero emissions
by 2050, a 52% increase since 2021, according to
the campaign’s forthcoming progress
report.
- More
than 1,100 cities, states and regions are
disclosing
their work and progress through
the climate reporting platform CDP-ICLEI Track,
marking an 89% increase since theParis Agreement
came into force in 2016.
- The
first-ever study looking at MDB
financing for cities in developing
countries will be
released today by the Cities Climate Finance
Leadership Initiative. Cities are at the
forefront of climate change – accounting for 70%
of global energy use – but are rarely addressed
in discussions of MDB reforms, according to a
preview.
- In an
effort to help national governments integrate
action from their cities, states and regions,
the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate &
Energy and WRI today published recommendations for
subnational
governments to
ensure the credibility, accountability, and
transparency of their commitments to net zero
emissions.
Race
to Zero
- The Race
to Zero now includes businesses, investors,
cities, regions and universities from
146
countries, up by
30 from last year. Asia-Pacific is the fastest
growing region, with 518 new members. The Middle
East and North Africa region now has 131
members, up by 104% with a significant rise in
SMEs.
- The Race to Zero has
seen a substantial increase in collaboration and
partnerships with key regional entities,
including the UAE Alliance for Climate
Action, COP28 & SME Climate Hub for
MENA, The Surpluss, UN Global Compact, which
helped to increase membership.
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About the High-Level
Champions | |
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Created under the Paris
Agreement, the UN Climate Change High-Level
Champions have a mandate to connect the work of
national governments with voluntary and
collaborative action taken by cities, regions,
businesses, investors and civil society worldwide.
Through the Race to Zero and Race to Resilience campaigns,
the Champions are mobilizing robust, science-based
commitments and action from real economy actors to
reduce emissions, build resilience and end nature
loss in line with limiting global warming to
1.5C. | |
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