Advancing Climate Action in Latin America and the Caribbean

By Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change

Next week marks the start of Latin America and the Caribbean Climate Week , a milestone event on the climate calendar designed to drive regional collaboration, boost climate action and accelerate implementation of the Paris Agreement.

It couldn’t come at a more critical time.

The world faces a multitude of challenges, but climate change remains our existential emergency. Its impacts are being felt around the world — and not least in Latin America and the Caribbean.

UN Secretary António Guterres emphasized this in a recent speech , referring to this region as “ground zero for the global climate emergency” and reiterated the urgent need for bold solutions.

Climate change and extreme weather are threatening human health and safety, food, water and energy security and the environment across the entire region, according to a recent report from the World Meteorological Organization.

Latin America and the Caribbean are highly exposed to the impacts of climate change, with the region’s vulnerability exacerbated by high levels of poverty and inequality. In addition, extreme events, such as floods, mudslides, landslides, and drought, are significantly driving up migration.

Climate change is the most significant, alarming and rapidly escalating crisis facing the region.

It’s also a personal crisis. Even though my responsibilities as a diplomat have led me lo live abroad for several years now, I was born and raised in Mexico and it will always be my home. To see the region and its people suffer from droughts, heat waves, and water insecurity affects me deeply. As Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change, my main objective has been to help the international community avert the worst impacts of climate change and grasp all the opportunities of climate action.

But we’re not there yet. Not even close. The science is clear: humanity is far off track in terms of its ambition and nations will not reach their collective goals on climate change at the current rate. Recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change clearly show we are on pace to more than double the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C by 2021. Every fraction of a degree of temperature rise compounds the collective danger to all.

The 2020s must be a decade of action. Long-term plans are vital, but if global leaders — public and private — do not make progress and establish clear plans for climate action in the next two years, plans for 2050 and beyond will be irrelevant.

And that’s why Latin America and the Caribbean Climate Week is so important. It provides a space and an opportunity for governments, the private sector, and other non-governmental organizations to forge partnerships that will drive climate action in a meaningful way.

This climate week is also an excellent opportunity to advance regional action around mitigation, adaption and financial support and help lay the groundwork for an effective outcomes of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) this November in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

The world is beset with numerous challenges, but it is essential the road to COP27, including all regional climate weeks taking place in 2022, help build awareness and reinforce the message that climate change is the world’s central existential crisis. It is tied to virtually every major challenge humanity faces and, by addressing it, we can not only make major progress on these issues, but create a more resilient, just and prosperous future for all people.

Latin America and the Caribbean Climate Week represents a major opportunity for the region – let’s grasp that opportunity and together take a clear step towards a sustainable future.

LACCW 2022 will be held from 18 to 22 July in Santo Domingo hosted by the Government of the Dominican Republic. See the detailed programme and register here .