High-Level Climate Change RoundTable

The wind farm “Los Granujales” in the South of Spain (Vejer de la Frontera, Cádiz). Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources like wind is one of the measures needed to slow down climate change. Vidar Nordli-Mathisen/Unsplash

Convened by the Secretary-General on the sidelines of the UN General-Assembly, the High-Level Climate Change event brings together global leaders who will showcase the most far-reaching climate actions they are taking.

As climate impacts worsen around the world, UN Secretary-General António Guterres is convening a roundtable of global climate leaders from government, business and finance, and civil society to showcase high-impact actions and ambition to confront the climate crisis.

The virtual roundtable will demonstrate leading examples of the Secretary-General’s six climate-positive actions to recover better together: invest in jobs and green business, no bailouts to polluting industries, ending subsidies for fossil fuels, considering climate risks in all decisions and policy-making, working together and ensuring that no one is left behind.

The event will showcase the vast social and economic benefits of a sustainable recovery and of action to limit global warming to 1.5°C by achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050, and to ensure that people and planet are protected from climate change impacts.

Taking place a year and a day after the 2019 Climate Action Summit, which mobilized climate leaders to step up the pace of progress, the Roundtable is part of a major global effort to raise ambition to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. The Roundtable will be a significant step towards the 5-year anniversary of the adoption of the landmark UN treaty on December 12 this year, which will be a vital moment to mobilize greater action and ambition on the pathway to COP26 in November 2021.

Climate impacts are increasing

COVID-19 has not stopped the climate crisis. Carbon emissions are quickly returning to pre-COVID levels, and greenhouse gas concentrations have reached new record highs, according to the latest United in Science report, released on 9 September. The damage inflicted by climate change continues to mount, from worsening wildfires, floods and storms, to rising food insecurity and economic loss.

As the world confronts the pandemic and embarks on recovery, critical decisions being taken now will determine whether the world will return to the high-emissions economy or embark on a new path toward lower emissions and greater sustainability.

The vast scale of COVID-19 fighting and recovery spending can either help drive climate action forward and help keep the goals of the Paris Agreement within reach, or set us back years, which the science dictates we cannot afford if we are to reach the 1.5°C goal.

At the same time, the vast benefits of taking climate action are becoming increasingly clear: more jobs, better health, more equal and resilient societies, and stronger economies. For example, opportunities in renewable energy, building efficiency and other low-carbon industries can create 24 million decent jobs by 2030.

The 90-minute event will feature a roundtable discussion with around 20 global climate leaders from governments, the private sector and civil society, moderated by international journalist and television presenter Femi Oke.

Webcast: The event will be livestreamed on webtv.un.org with translation.

Climate action and ambition will be a key issue in a range of other key events and convenings during the UN General Assembly. More information is here.

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https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/high-level-climate-change-roundtable

High-Level Climate Change RoundTable | United Nations

Throughout COVID-19 recovery, 'plummeting’ clean energy costs can help climate action

A camel stand in a windmill park on the outskirt of Nouakchott, Mauritania.

As COVID-19 hits the fossil fuel industry, a new UN report published on Wednesday shows that renewable energy is more cost-effective than ever – providing an opportunity to prioritize clean energy in national economic recovery packages and bring the world closer to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement.

The new report, Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2020, is a collaboration between the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Frankfurt School-UNEP Collaborating Centre, and energy financing company, BloombergNEF.

Against the backdrop of governments injecting huge amounts of money into their economies to offset the impact of coronavirus lockdowns, UNEP chief Inger Andersen; Nils Stieglitz, President of the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management; and Jon Moore, Chief Executive BloombergNEF, maintain in the foreword that “putting these dollars into renewables will buy more generation capacity than ever before”, and help countries deliver on stronger climate action.

Tell-all numbers 

The report illustrates that apart from large hydro-power generation, in 2019, renewable energy grew by a record 184 gigawatts (GW). \

Although this was a 12 per cent jump over the previous year, the 2019-dollar investment was only one per cent higher. 

Meanwhile, technology improvements, economies of scale and fierce competition, have prompted the cost of wind and solar electricity to continue to drop over the last decade, resulting in and 83 per cent price drop for electricity from new solar photovoltaic plants, in the second half of 2019.

Although this represents good progress, the report notes that “there is room to do much more”. 

Looking ahead

Nations and corporations have made clean energy commitments over the next decade, for 826GW of new non-hydro renewable power by 2030, at a likely cost of around $1 trillion.

However, these commitments fall far short of what is needed to limit the rise in global temperatures, to well under 2 degrees Celsius under the Paris Agreement, and also falls short of last decade’s achievements, which saw around 1,200GW of new capacity, at a cost of $2.7 trillion.

“This lack of ambition can be rectified in economic recovery packages”, assured Ms. Andersen, Mr. Stieglitz and Mr. Moore, adding that by “simply repeating the investment of the last decade, over the next, would buy far more clean energy than it did before”. 

The COVID factor

The slump that the coronavirus has created in the fossil fuels sector, combined with the resilience of clean energy, have made it clear that renewable energy is a smart investment, says the report.

"The chorus of voices calling on Governments to use their COVID -19 recovery packages to create sustainable economies is growing”, maintained Ms. Andersen. 

And the report’s findings highlight that renewable energy is one of the smartest, most cost-effective investments going.

“If governments take advantage of the ever-falling price tag of renewables to put clean energy at the heart of COVID -19 economic recovery, instead of subsidizing the recovery of fossil-fuel industries, they can take a big step towards clean energy and a healthy natural world – which ultimately is the best insurance policy against global pandemics”, concluded the UNEP chief.

UNEP 2020 Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/06/1066082

Throughout COVID-19 recovery, 'plummeting’ clean energy costs can help climate action