The second day of COP28 marked significant commitments from world leaders at the COP28 World Climate Action Summit (WCAS) on youth, health, nature, water and energy, with H.E. Razan Al Mubarak hosting seven heads of state for the WCAS nature event. Leading real economy actors are providing the solutions, capital, and insights to support them in turning these commitments into real and immediate emissions reductions which restore nature and protect climate vulnerable communities.?
- The UAE COP28 Presidency and its partners announced a series of major initiatives and funding for simultaneous nature and climate action in developing countries during today’s WCAS nature event. Visit the Presidency’s website
for more details.
- The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero
(GFANZ) will release recommendations today to holistically embed nature into its net zero emissions transition plan framework. The initiative will build on the globally consistent transition framework GFANZ has developed for unlocking the trillions of dollars needed to protect and restore nature which is essential to achieve net zero emissions and limit warming to 1.5oC.
- The Urban Nature Program
launched today will bolster nature-focused investments and integration in urban environments by providing financial and technical support to catalyse urban natural solutions. The initiative will spotlight over 20 pioneering cities and encourage a growing number of ambitious cities to integrate nature into their strategies
Energy and Industry Decarbonization
- The COP28 President, alongside a coalition of 56 governments, today announced 29 priority actions for the Breakthrough Agenda to accelerate decarbonization in the power, road transport, steel, hydrogen and agriculture sectors which represent more than half of global emissions. This comes in response to the Breakthrough Agenda Report 2023
, co-authored by the High-Level Champions with IEA and IRENA.
- The COP28 Presidency, UN Climate Change and Bloomberg Philanthropies also launched
the Industrial Transition Accelerator (ITA) for heavy-emitting industries. With $30 million of funding, the ITA secretariat will be hosted by Mission Possible Partnership. Alongside the Breakthrough Agenda it will accelerate decarbonization of heavy industry by bringing together global industry leaders.
- Led by the UAE, US, Canada, Germany, India, Morocco, France, Egypt and the UK, the Breakthrough Agenda action plan is designed to advance collaborative action in 2024 in areas such as standards and regulation, financial and technical assistance, and market creation. It sends a global shift that helps further unlock the transformative power of financial markets, industry, local communities and innovators to deliver the breakthroughs
needed to halve emissions by 2030.?
- 118 countries agreed today to double energy efficiency and triple renewables capacity, the UAE Presidency announced
. Energy producers and consumers demonstrate that a near-zero carbon economy is the growth story of the future. Over 400 companies
have committed to purchase all of their electricity from renewables by 2030. Over 200 companies representing more than US$1.5 trillion in global annual revenue have urged national governments
to ramp up clean energy and accelerate a just transition.
- ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, today announced a call to action for empowering Africa’s cities to scale up the transition to clean cooking. Clean cooking technologies
can reduce emissions, reduce demand for firewood and charcoal, and alleviate pressure on forests and nature.
- In a significant boost for cities, regions, and states, the UAE COP28 Presidency
and Bloomberg Philanthropies on Friday launched an initiative to foster multi-level governance and collaboration with national governments – the Coalition for High Ambition Multi-Level Partnership
, with endorsement from 63 countries. The coalition sets out a new process through which subnational governments can contribute to the execution of ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions, and the announcement of a new US$65 million commitment to support city networks.
- Over 1,162 cities have now signed up to the Race to Zero
campaign and set science-aligned targets for net zero emissions by 2050, a 52% increase since 2021, according to the campaign’s forthcoming progress report.
- More than 1,100 cities, states and regions are disclosing their work and progress through the climate reporting platform CDP-ICLEI Track
, marking an 89% increase since theParis Agreement came into force in 2016.?
- The first-ever study looking at MDB financing for cities in developing countries will be released today by the Cities Climate Finance Leadership Initiative. Cities are at the forefront of climate change – accounting for 70% of global energy use – but are rarely addressed in discussions of MDB reforms, according to a preview
.?
- In an effort to help national governments integrate action from their cities, states and regions, the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy and WRI today published recommendations
for subnational governments to ensure the credibility, accountability, and transparency of their commitments to net zero emissions.
- The Race to Zero now includes businesses, investors, cities, regions and universities from 146 countries, up by 30 from last year. Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing region, with 518 new members. The Middle East and North Africa region now has 131 members, up by 104% with a significant rise in SMEs.?
About the High-Level Champions
Created under the Paris Agreement, the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions have a mandate to connect the work of national governments with voluntary and collaborative action taken by cities, regions, businesses, investors and civil society worldwide. Through the Race to Zero
and Race to Resilience
campaigns, the Champions are mobilizing robust, science-based commitments and action from real economy actors to reduce emissions, build resilience and end nature loss in line with limiting global warming to 1.5C.??
The sum for the Industrial Transition Accelerator has been corrected to US$30 million.
