Despite the surge of climate action commitments seen in recent years, the report highlights, there is still an urgent need to implement and scale up “a rigorous ‘all of economy, all of society approach’” this decade, according to the first-of-its-kind global stocktake technical report released today.
There is still a significant gap between promises and action to limit global warming to 1.5°C and achieve wider sustainable development. Filling the gap requires collaborative, concerted action from national and sub-national governments, businesses, investors, youth, Indigenous peoples, workers and civil society across all areas of climate action, including finance, adaptation and resilience, emissions reductions, nature regeneration, technology transfers and capacity building.
The report pulls together thousands of inputs from government experts, business leaders and civil society. Led by the co-facilitators of the stocktake’s technical dialogue, this exercise has seen an unprecedented level of inclusive and innovative engagement. Governments will now aim to agree a collective response to the stocktake report at the COP28 conference in Dubai, starting on 30 November.
Sub-national governments, the private sector and civil society have an instrumental role to play in setting out the roadmap for transformation between now and 2030, building on the foundation of commitments made in recent years.
Mahmoud Mohieldin, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for Egypt’s COP27: “In response to the global stocktake, all non-state actors must work to turn promises into reality. Transformative projects are already being conceived in emerging markets and developing countries. These projects will help communities adapt to climate impacts, mitigate emissions and support sustainable development. But to grow at scale they need, especially in the global south, increased just financing with appropriate instruments that don’t exacerbate debt, technology transfers, nature-based solutions and capacity building to support just, equitable and inclusive transitions to get on track for a 1.5°C resilient world in 2050. Now it’s time to enhance collaboration and deliver on the necessary solutions.”
Razan Al Mubarak, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for the UAE’s COP28: “The global stocktake shows us that businesses, investors, cities and regions can provide the groundswell of action needed to halve emissions, build resilience and end nature loss by 2030, if they collaborate to implement commitments. A more resilient, nature-positive, net-zero emissions economy will enhance health, security, jobs, equality and wider sustainable development for all.”
Through their role and mandate, the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions and the Marrakech Partnership will continue to mobilize such action from businesses, investors, cities, regions and civil society, in line with the findings of the global stocktake.
The Race to Zero and Race to Resilience campaigns have already encouraged the setting of credible, science-backed commitments to halve emissions and enhance the resilience of the most climate-vulnerable communities by 2030. In addition, the Climate Action Pathways, 2030 Breakthroughs, Breakthrough Agenda, and Sharm El-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda have set out detailed solutions for transformation across major emitting sectors. Stepping up policy, innovation, and investment in line with these initiatives will deliver significant first-mover advantage.
The global stocktake process was created by the Paris Agreement to track progress on its goals every five years. The response this year and towards 2025 will be crucial to ensuring that we halve emissions, strengthen resilience and end nature loss by 2030.
Progress is underway, but obstacles remain
Recent COPs have witnessed an unprecedented surge of businesses, investors, cities and regions demonstrating robust, science-based commitments, including through the Race to Zero, 2030 Breakthroughs, Race to Resilience and Sharm El-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda. This is helping to shift entire sectors, redirecting capital, disseminating new technologies, and driving innovation.
Since its launch in 2020, the Race to Zero campaign has mobilized more than 11,000 businesses, investors, cities, regions, educational institutions and healthcare institutions to make high-quality commitments to halve emissions by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2050.
The Race to Resilience, launched in 2021, has mobilized commitments to increase the resilience of 3.1 billion vulnerable people by 2030. Furthermore, private sector, sub-national governments, civil society and youth are accelerating the implementation of the Sharm El-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda, launched by the Egyptian COP27 Presidency last year, in areas such as oceans and coastal regions, food and agriculture, the built environment, and insurance finance.
But, as the global stocktake report makes clear, action is still falling short of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Greenwashing, fragmented real-world action and systemic finance barriers persist, making it hard to translate lofty commitments in action. Denial, doubt, and delay must not hinder progress.
Stronger, more collaborative and more inclusive action across society – including by businesses, cities and regions, youth, indigenous peoples and others – and will send a signal to governments that more ambitious policies are feasible and desirable. Greater ambition from governments will, in turn, unlock the transformative power of financial markets, industry, innovators, indigenous peoples, youth and others.
Additional Quotes
Gregor Robertson, Global Ambassador of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy: “This Stocktake is another wake-up call, and an opportunity for national governments to pivot and maximize impact through collaborative climate action. Cities and sub-national governments have tremendous potential to reduce emissions, build resilience and deliver huge benefits on jobs, public health and air quality. If national governments include subnational contributions in their climate planning, financing and implementation, they could halve emissions by 2030, and get global warming targets back on track.”
Maria Mendiluce, CEO, We Mean Business Coalition: “The Global Stocktake shows us again that collective progress on climate change is moving rapidly yet is still not enough. From our extensive conversations with companies and analysis of corporate climate data, it is clear the scale and pace of action needed to safeguard a stable future can only come from both public and private sectors investing in the transition. Where this is happening, change is happening fast. The Stocktake offers countries preparing for COP28 in Dubai a clear inventory – not of failures – but of gaps and opportunities for governments, business and finance leaders to tackle together, in deeper systemic collaboration that can accelerate change.”
Media contacts
Claire Duthuit, Communication Director
media@climatechampions.team
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