In Short : “Seizing climate solutions: the time is now” encapsulates the urgency and importance of taking immediate actions to address climate change. This phrase emphasizes the critical need for decisive and impactful measures to tackle environmental challenges and transition toward sustainable solutions.
In Detail : UN Climate Change High-Level Champions from COP25 through to COP28 reflect on the key developments from Dubai and what’s needed to create a sustainable, resilient future for all
Welcome to the era of climate action. An era where governments are coming together with businesses, investors, cities, regions and civil society worldwide, and turning the groundswell of commitments from recent years into detailed, transformative plans of action.
The convergence of representatives from across the economy was on display like never before at last month’s COP28 climate conference in Dubai. It marked a decisive shift from the era of climate promises spurred by the 2015 Paris agreement.
We left Dubai confident that the road map to a sustainable, resilient future is set, signposted with specific breakthroughs and adaptation goals that all major sectors of the economy must achieve by 2030. In doing so, we will enter the 2030s with greater resilience to climate-change impacts, enhanced adaptive capacity, a reversal of nature loss and a pathway to global net zero by 2050.
But the time frame is tight, and the work ahead is still monumental. These must be the years of implementation. We need to unlock finance for fair, sustainable development; invest in nature in a way that bolsters our health, food and water security; build adaptation and resilience to climate-change impacts; and halve greenhouse-gas emissions compared with 2020.
In our role as UN Climate Change High-Level Champions, our hopes are buoyed by the robust transformation we are witnessing across the economy, led by businesses, investors, cities, regions and civil society. The business case for climate action and sustainable development is proven, the commitments have been made, and the solutions are ready to be seized.
The 2030 Climate Solutions document, published by the Champions at COP28, pulls together our team’s years-long work to define the breakthroughs needed within the decade to decarbonise major sectors and set measurable adaptation goals for communities most at risk. It focuses on the four big developments we must implement now: a just transition to clean energy and industry; equitable financial flows; the reversal of nature loss and inclusion of Indigenous peoples; and adaptation and resilience.
Action on display
COP28 demonstrated that action is under way across all four developments.
In energy and industry, countries made clear the direction of travel by agreeing, for the first time, to quickly shift energy systems away from fossil fuels in a just and orderly fashion.
But that wasn’t all. Around 120 countries pledged to triple global renewable-energy capacity and double energy efficiency by 2030, backed by hundreds of private-sector and civil-society organisations. The pledge includes steps for achieving these goals in developing countries, such as increasing finance, reducing the cost of capital and boosting technical support.
COP28 also saw the launch of first-of-their-kind initiatives to drive 2030 breakthroughs in the cement and concrete and buildings sectors, by sharing best practices and supporting innovation; and to set global standards for the decarbonisation of steel.
New finance was committed throughout COP28 to areas such as nature, adaptation, and loss and damage, with a focus on developing countries, women and Indigenous peoples. This included the mobilisation of more than $2.5bn for the protection and restoration of forests, mangroves and the oceans; and over $7bn to transform the food and agriculture system.
Additionally, the Champions’ two-year initiative to showcase a pipeline of investable climate-action projects in developing countries unlocked $1.9bn of finance for 19 projects by COP28. There are still over 450 projects of different sizes and stages of development requiring $500bn, but the more investors see positive results from the first movers, the more they will want to join in.
For nature, we saw specific plans for fulfilling the international goal of ending and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030. For example, the Asian Development Bank launched a finance hub for Asia Pacific that aims to attract at least $2bn for investment programmes that incorporate nature-based solutions. Nearly 50 countries, plus private-sector and civil-society representatives, backed efforts to restore and protect 15m hectares of mangroves with $4bn in finance by 2030.
In adaptation and resilience, the first implementation report of the one-year-old Sharm El-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda was launched at COP28, setting measurable targets for the private sector and local governments in areas such as water, food, housing and infrastructure. As of December it now includes goals for bolstering public health, too.
COP28 also saw countries pledge over $700m for the losses and damages that vulnerable communities have already incurred from climate change.
Driving ambition
These next two years are crucial for implementation, as countries prepare to submit strengthened climate-action plans under the Paris agreement in 2025. The more governments see the transformation under way in the economy, the more they will be encouraged to set higher goals and stronger incentives.
This ambition loop has been growing throughout our tenure as Champions. The rise of businesses, investors, cities and regions setting robust commitments has enabled governments to set their sights on net-zero emissions and the end of nature loss, which in turn allows the private sector and local governments to go further, faster.
After many years of slow change, this era of climate action holds the promise of course-correction and exponential transformation. As UN Climate Change Champions past and present, we will continue to do all we can to drive accelerations in ambition and action through to 2025’s COP30 in Brazil, to ensure that national climate plans add up for the first time to a transition plan that leads to a just, resilient and net-zero-emissions world.
About the UN High-Level Champions:
Nigel Topping: Nigel Topping was the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion from the COP26 Presidency, appointed by the UK Prime Minister in January 2020.
Gonzalo Muñoz: Gonzalo is the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion from the COP25 Presidency, appointed by the Chilean Presidency in 2019.
Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin: Dr. Mohieldin is an economist with more than 30 years of experience in international finance and development. He is an Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund. He has been the United Nations Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda since February 2020. He was Minister of Investment of Egypt from 2004-2010, and most recently, served as the World Bank Group Senior Vice President for the 2030 Development Agenda, United Nations Relations and Partnerships.
Her Excellency Ms. Razan Al Mubarak: Ms. Razan Al Mubarak is currently the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion from the COP28 Presidency. She is also president of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the second woman to lead the organization in its 75-year history. She is also the founding director of the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund which, since its inception, has supported more than 2,500 species conservation projects in over 160 countries.
In 2010, Al Mubarak was appointed as the Managing Director of the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD), becoming the youngest person to lead an Abu Dhabi entity and the only woman to hold such a position. Under her guidance and leadership, the government agreed to double its protected wildlife areas and adopt the region’s first carbon targets: a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 42% by 2030.