Asia can lead global transformation towards low-carbon and resilience

Asia-Pacific Climate Week in Bangkok – Thailand (APCW 2019) wrapped up today – with participants agreeing a set of key takeaways on what steps urgently need to be taken for the region to be able to profit from the advantages of the transition to low carbon and resilience and the worst impacts of climate change.
The compelling social and economic reasons to rapidly shift to low-carbon and resilience were outlined by high-level speakers who warned that current levels of ambition to tackle climate change are insufficient, putting the world on a path towards global warming of more than 3 degrees Celsius.
A key takeaway was that Asia-Pacific region can lead the global transformation in line with a 1.5 Celsius, climate resilient world. Holding the global average temperature rise is the central goal of the Paris Climate Change Agreement.
Participants at the gathering agreed that the transformation to low carbon and resilience in Asia can be driven not only by governments, but by dynamic subnational regions and cities, an innovative private sector, political leadership and finance.
Youth groups played an important role at Asia-Pacific Climate Week, engaging with participants and covering the discussions on social media accounts. Over half of the global population of 1.8 billion young people live in the Asia-Pacific region, whose future is at stake.
The messages will be an important input to the Climate Action Summit convened by the UN secretary-general on September 23 in New York. The results will also help build momentum towards the UN Climate Change Conference (COP25) that will take place in Santiago, Chile, December 2-13, 2019.
Countries are currently designing enhanced national climate action plans under the Paris Agreement (Nationally Determined Contribution, or NDCs) and the Summit in New York will be an opportunity for governments and many climate action players to announce new plans and initiatives before the NDCs are communicated to the UN in 2020.
The Bangkok gathering included an ‘NDC Dialogue’ for the Asia-Pacific Region. At the dialogue, government representatives highlighted the importance of providing economic incentives like the creation of quality green jobs, whist ensuring there is a just transition to low carbon, with nobody left behind.
Climate change adaptation planning and finance were a key theme throughout APCW 2019, with a focus on communities and ecosystems that need it most.
On the issue of building resilience to climate change, representatives of indigenous peoples from the Asia-Pacific region and academics as well as other stakeholders with diverse backgrounds engaged at an event where they stressed the need for a shift in mindset in the fight against climate change.
The group proposed concrete pathways to help transform societies to achieve long-term resilience for all. 
Other issues discussed at APCW 2019 were carbon pricing, the enhanced transparency framework, capacity-building and regional climate finance, above all for highly vulnerable nations.
At Asia Pacific Climate Week, work started on a new climate strategy for Indian Ocean Island States to access finance for priority projects, similar to the sub-regional Climate Finance Strategy developed for the four Melanesian island States of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
The UN Climate Change Secretariat is assisting 10 sub-regions involving 77 countries in Asia Pacific, Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean in preparing strategies to access scaled up climate finance.
APCW 2019 is the third Regional Climate Week to be organized this year, following a Regional Climate Week in Africa in Accra, Ghana in March and a Regional Climate Week in Salvador, Brazil in August. Altogether a total of 10,000 registrations were recorded for the 3 events demonstrating the growing interest for these issues.
Next year a new Regional Climate Week in the Middle East and North Africa region will take place in the United Arab Emirates and will be delivered in collaboration with the World Green Economy Organization (WGEO), the hosting organisation for the UN Climate Change Regional Collaboration Centre based in Dubai, for the MENA region and the South Asian region.

Economic benefits of regional climate action highlighted

The opening of the high-level segment of Asia-Pacific Climate Week took place in Bangkok on Wednesday, with speakers warning of the dire consequences of low levels of ambition to tackle climate change for the region and pointing to the compelling economic arguments for more climate action.
Asia-Pacific Climate Week is designed to boost regional climate action and to provide crucial inputs to the Climate Action Summit convened by the UN Secretary-General on September 23 in New York and the UN Climate Change Conference in Chile in December. It is being attended by governments and representatives of all areas of society.
At the opening Thai minister of Natural Resources and Environment Varawut Silpa-archa said that his country had ‘prioritised climate action among its top national agendas’ and requested all stakeholders in the region to show leadership. “Climate change is here in the Asia-Pacific region, and it shows no signs of slowing down,” he said, adding, “Let’s start our actions and send a message of solidarity from the Asia-Pacific region to the global community that saving our children and grandchildren from the consequences of climate change is possible.
Likewise, executive secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) Ibu Armida Alisjahbana called on countries in the region to decisively accelerate the transition to low carbon. She asked nations to stop building coal power plants by 2020, reiterating a key message by UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
According to the climate science and policy institute Climate Analytics, plans for major new coal deployment in South and Southeast Asia alone could put the key objectives of the Paris Climate Change Agreement out of reach.
UNESCAP chief Alisjahbana underscored that the economic argument to shift to sustainable economies is compelling. For example, just a one per cent improvement in resource efficiency of material resources and energy combined could deliver the region up to $275 billion in savings.
And according to Alisjahbana, achieving ecosystem conservation related targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) could result in a gain of $3.3 trillion worth of ecosystem services per year for the region by 2050.
The deputy executive secretary of UN Climate Change Ovais Sarmad, warned that current levels of ambition to tackle climate change are globally insufficient, and that nothing less than a full transformation of the global economy toward low carbon would enable the world to stave off the worst impacts of climate change. "It is clear we must urgently boost climate action,” he said, adding that current Nationally Determined Contributions submitted by nations under the Paris Agreement put us on pace for a 3 degrees Celsius rise, and possibly more," Ovais Sarmad said.
Countries are currently designing climate action plans under the Paris Agreement, which need to be communicated by the end of 2020. Countries and many stakeholders have been asked to come forward with plans for more ambitious climate action at the UN Climate Summit in September. In this regard, Ovais Sarmad sounded an encouraging note:
“We still have time – although not much time – to turn things around,” Ovais Sarmad said, “Never have we been better placed to do so. We have a global framework through the Paris Agreement. We have reinforced that Agreement with a common set of guidelines. And we have the willingness and stated participation of governments and businesses throughout the world.”
Other speakers at the high-level opening included UN special envoy for the Ocean Peter Thomson, Polish COP24 Presidency High-Level Climate Champion Tomasz Chruszczow, and the director general for the Melanesian Spearhead Group ambassador Amena Yauvoli.
Asia-Pacific youth were represented by Thai youth activist Punyapha Visavakornvisisd.
Asia-Pacific Climate Week is the third in a series of Regional Climate Weeks this year, the first two having taken place in Ghana in March, and Brazil in August. All the unavoidable emissions from Asia-Pacific Climate Week will be offset.

MDBs announce joint framework to combat climate change

Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) today announced a joint framework for aligning their activities with the goals of the Paris Agreement, reinforcing their commitment to combat climate change.
In a joint declaration, the MDBs committed to working together in six key areas considered central to meeting the goals of the agreement, which aims to limit the increase in global temperatures to well below 2°C, pursuing efforts for 1.5°C.
The declaration was issued at the start of the 24th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24) in Katowice, Poland.
"The global development agenda is at a pivotal point," the joint declaration reads. "There is international consensus on the urgent need to ensure that policy engagements and financial flows are consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development."
The MDBs and the International Development Finance Club (IDFC) had already pledged in December 2017 to align financial flows with the objectives of the Paris Agreement.
"To realise this vision, we are working together to develop a dedicated approach," the joint MDB declaration adds.
The MDBs plan to break their joint approach down into practical work on six core Paris Alignment areas – the building blocks – including: aligning their operations against mitigation and climate-resilience goals; ramping up climate finance; capacity building support for countries and other clients; plus an emphasis on climate reporting.
This approach builds on the ongoing MDB contribution to climate finance, which, in 2017, amounted to $35 billion to tackle climate change in developing and emerging economies, while mobilising an additional $52 billion from private and public sector sources.
The MDBs will report back to next year’s COP25 gathering on their progress under the six building blocks.
The nine MDBs includes the African Development Bank Group, the Asian Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank Group, the Islamic Development Bank, the New Development Bank, and the World Bank Group (World Bank, IFC, MIGA).

LDCs gather to advance operationalisation of Paris Agreement

The Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are collaborating to confront the worst effects of climate change. Under the leadership of chair of the LDC Group on Climate Change Gebru Jember Endalew, diplomats, advisors and experts are meeting this week to prepare for the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the upcoming climate summits in Bangkok and at COP24 in Katowitce.
The LDC Group meeting – started Monday and concluded today – in Bangkok, Thailand has brought bringing together more than 50 representatives to coordinate and boost their climate change actions and efforts. The meeting comes at a critical juncture, as countries move forward to operationalise the Paris Agreement, which serves as a roadmap for a united response to climate change.
In the making of the Paris Agreement, the LDC Group played a significant role in ensuring that the interests of the poorest and most vulnerable countries were represented and recognised.
LDCs are amongst the most vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change, facing immense challenges to their economic and social development. However, many LDCs are already demonstrating leadership, bold ambitions and transformative climate actions. "LDC representatives are working together as a bloc to strengthen our negotiations and build our leadership role in the collective global efforts to prevent dangerous climate change," Gebru Jember Endalew said, adding that they are gathering now to build momentum as they prepare for the next phase of negotiations, and to learn from each other as we begin to implement concrete climate change actions.
On the occasion, deputy regional director at UNDP Bureau of Asia and the Pacific Valerie Cliff said, “UNDP aims to ensure the voices of LDCs are heard strongly in the international climate change negotiations."
We support LDCs to advance their climate change commitments, actions and build resilience, he said, adding that they stand ready to support in the process of international negotiation, to advance low-emissions, resilient and sustainable development.
Likewise, deputy regional director at UN Environment Regional Office Asia Pacific,
Isabelle Louis, on the occasion, said that UN Environment has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to supporting LDCs globally in mitigation and adaptation endeavours. "Our goal is to have a tangible impact through empowering LDCs in the climate change negotiations process to overcome their significant climate change challenges and build long-term capacity and resilience," he added.
LDC representatives are taking this opportunity to reflect on the progress made by LDCs, and plan for a long-term, low emissions and resilient future. Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) are also being considered, as well as the forthcoming IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 degrees.
The LDC Group are galvanising support and collaboration, building momentum for an ambitious outcome of the upcoming COP24, which will be held in December 2018 in Katowitce, Poland.
This meeting was organised as part of the ongoing support by UNDP and UN Environment to the LDC Group, through the joint UNDP-UN Environment project, ‘Building Capacity for LDCs to participate effectively in intergovernmental climate change processes’ (LDC Negotiators) financed by the GEF Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), and implemented in collaboration with the LDC Group, UNITAR, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and Climate Analytics.
On the occasion, the LDC Group chair Gebru Jember Endalew also announced the live launch of a new website for the LDC Group, supported by UNDP and UN Environment, on the final day of the meeting in Bangkok.