UN
Global Climate Action
20
January
2022 | |
High Level Climate Champions
Newsletter | |
Climate Action Must Build Climate
Resilience | |
If there is one lesson we can take from
2021, it’s climate action is going to have to
grow much faster to keep up with the climate
change impacts we’re already seeing.
Our two weeks at COP26 last year showed us
the growing speed and determination with which
businesses, investors, cities and regions are
committing to halve emissions within this decade
and reach net zero before 2050.
At the same time, we need to adapt and
build resilience to the unfolding impacts of
climate change. 2021 saw catastrophic wildfires
in California and Greece; floods in India,
Australia, Turkey, China, Belgium, Germany and
South Sudan; locust plagues in East Africa;
deadly cold in Texas and melting of the
permafrost that supports infrastructure and
homes in Russia.
There is no time to lose. If global warming
reaches 1.5°C by 2030, nearly half the world’s
population will be at risk from hazards related
to heat stress, drought, flood or water
stress, according to analysis for the
UN-backed Race to
Resilience produced by McKinsey
Sustainability. That’s up from 43%
today.
Even if we stave off 1.5°C of warming until
2050, nearly one in four people will be at risk
from severe hazards that could affect their
lives and livelihoods, it found in research
released at COP26.
As now, lower income countries are more
likely to be exposed to hazards than higher
income countries. That would lead to more
poverty and inequality caused by more loss and
damage from the impacts of climate
change. | |
Resilient People Drive a Resilient
Economy | |
Building a
resilient stable economy starts with building
resilience, health and stability for people,
communities and nature around the world.
The Race to
Resilience mobilizes businesses, investors,
cities, regions and civil society to build
resilience for the 4 billion people most at risk
from climate change within the 2020s, to ensure
that they can thrive in spite of climate shocks
and stresses. This is crucial, because emission
reductions alone will not protect our economic
health and security in the long-run.
By 2050,
global GDP would shrink by 18% if the
temperature rise reaches 3.2°, by 11% if it’s
kept to 2°C and 4% if it’s lower than 2°C,
Swiss Re
Institute
found last April. Asian economies will feel the
worst impacts, with China at risk of losing
nearly 24% of its GDP.
Impacts will
make it harder for people to work, according to
McKinsey.
Chronic
severe heat stress, for example, would make it
too hot to work outside during at least a
quarter of working hours in a year - lowering
incomes and forcing industries to rethink their
operations. It could also raise health risks for
workers, cause electricity and air conditioning
cuts, add stress for hospitals, and drive
migration.
Drought,
meanwhile, could affect nearly one in seven
people who are expected to be employed by the
agricultural sector by 2050. This would place
further strain on demand for water, leading to
further malnutrition and spreading infectious
diseases.
Extreme daily
rainfall also puts economies and people’s jobs
in jeopardy, especially in the manufacturing and
services sectors in industrialized countries
like the US, Japan and Germany, according to the
Potsdam
Institute for Climate Impacts Research.
| |
Racing to Resilience and Zero,
Simultaneously | |
The future is scary, and we are not
changing fast enough. But we are on the right
track - and the exponential change we’re already
seeing means that it is still within our grasp.
The three campaigns are aligning the
private sector and local governments around
robust, transparent and science-based
commitments to halve emissions and build
resilience by 2030. This year, they are working
to drive exponential changes across the
highest-emitting sectors, set metrics for
measuring the impact of resilience work for the
most vulnerable communities and bring more
businesses, investors and subnational
governments into the race.
| |
- The UK and
Egypt will
work closely to deliver on the outcomes of the
Glasgow Climate Pact, the COP26 President Alok
Sharma and COP27 President Designate Sameh
Shoukry said in a joint statement. They
emphasized the need to address gaps in ambition
across mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage,
and finance, and the importance of responding to
the best available science.
- Registration for the
first-ever Middle
East and North Africa Climate Week is open. Running from
28 February to 3 March in Dubai, the event is an
opportunity to talk about social inequalities
and invest in economic development that benefits
humanity and nature.
- 2022 could see renewable
energy investments jump by 25% to near US$400
billion, breaking a decade of stagnation,
according to SEB
Group, as
energy production becomes more profitable.
Sustainable finance is set to rise by nearly 50%
to US$2.3-2.6 trillion, thanks to a rise in
green bond issuance.
- Environmental risks are
seen as the five most critical long-term threats
to the world over the next decade, according to
the World Economic Forum’s Global
Risk Report.
Leaders surveyed said they are most worried
about climate action failure, extreme weather,
biodiversity loss.
- Around 1.85 million
children worldwide develop asthma attributed to
nitrogen dioxide pollution from petrol and
diesel traffic, according to George
Washington University. Around two-thirds of
those are in urban areas. South Asia,
Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East have seen
rises.
- Beijing met its national air quality
standards for the first time in 2021, the UN
Environment Programme announced. The city
credited the addition of wind and solar farms,
vast numbers of trees and the switch to
gas-fired heating.
- Shipping giant AP
Moller-Maersk
is moving its target for net zero emissions up
to 2040, from 2050, and expanding it to cover
direct and indirect emissions. This is in line
with limiting warming to 1.5°C.
- Keep track of climate action progress, and
climate impacts, unfolding across the real
economy by visiting and bookmarking the Climate
Progress News Barrel, supported by the Camda community of analysts.
This frequently updated resource of global news
stories also includes a calendar
of the major events likely to shape climate
action in 2022.
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