Sustainable Biz #5 - Magazine - Page 14
Yearbook of Global Climate
Action 2023: Pace of Change
Needs to Speed Up
B
usinesses, investors, cities, states
and regions are stepping up to take
climate action in greater numbers
than ever before – just not at the pace or
scale needed to limit global temperature rise
to 1.5 degrees Celsius, according to the 2023
edition of the Yearbook of Global Climate
Action released at the UN Climate Change
Conference (COP28).
“Climate action needs to accelerate
everywhere. Systems transformation, from
energy and transport to our relationship
with nature and our social systems, is
essential to rapidly reducing emissions
and building resilience,” said UN Climate
Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell.
“Greater collaboration between Parties and
non-Party stakeholders is an opportunity
to radically enhance action towards
our collective climate goals.” The 2023
Yearbook, the seventh of the series, provides
an overview of the progress, trends and
challenges of real-world climate action taken
by non-Party stakeholders.
For example, the Yearbook reports that the
Global Climate Action Portal – a platform
that tracks climate action around the globe –
now has more than 32,000 registered actors,
an increase of approximately 6% from what
was reported in 2022, and almost six times
higher than in 2015. However, gaps remain,
both in terms of increasing the geographical
coverage and breadth of climate action of
the portal itself but also in the solutions
being pursued by non-Party stakeholders.
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In the Yearbook’s foreword, High-Level
Champions Mahmoud Mohieldin (Egypt)
and Razan Al Mubarak (United Arab
Emirates) jointly called for a step-up of
climate action this decade. “Effective
implementation – in the context of
achieving the Sustainable Development
Goals – is our common goal that needs to
be pursued under the guiding principle of
climate justice. The global stocktake is our
opportunity to forge ahead, together,” they
wrote.
Other key advances outlined in the 2023
edition of the Yearbook include increased
support to cities that are adapting to the
impacts of climate change, more finance
mobilised for marginalised groups such as
Indigenous Peoples, the publication of a
handbook to help non-Party stakeholders
align their policies with net-zero goals, and
the launch of a report that explains how to
unlock climate financing in Africa.
The 2023 Yearbook also has a strong
focus on the conclusion of the first global
stocktake at COP28, which got underway
in Dubai today.The global stocktake is a
process for countries and stakeholders
to see where they’re collectively making
progress towards meeting the goals of the
Paris Climate Change Agreement – and
where they’re not. Governments will take a
decision on the global stocktake at COP28,
which can be leveraged to accelerate
ambition in their next round of climate
action plans due in 2025.
S USTAI N AB L E B I Z MAGAZINE
MAY 2024
Non-Party stakeholders shared their insights
for how governments can come together
at COP28 with a strong response to the
stocktake. Seven key messages emerged
from the Yearbook that could help inform
the conclusion of the global stocktake:
- Climate action needs to align
with the goal of keeping 1.5 degrees
Celsius climate-resilient world
within reach.
- The opportunities to accelerate
climate action exist, but need to be
scaled up.
- Non-Party stakeholders are key
partners in ramping up climate
action and ambition.
- Credibility of action and
commitments of non-Party
stakeholders need to be
systematically ensured.
- International cooperation across
sectors and actors – guided by
the principle of climate justice
- is instrumental in systemstransformation.
- Climate action should not be
siloed.
- Fair finance flows are needed now.
