Dive Brief:
- The United Nations is launching a program to accelerate climate action and align climate pledges with the Paris Agreement that will consist of a series of regional meetings around the world, the organization announced Tuesday.
- The “NDCs 3.0 Regional Fora” will help countries revise and update their emissions reductions plans — or Nationally Determined Contributions — to keep the goal of limiting additional global temperature rise to 1.5°C within reach, per the UN. Countries are required to submit enhanced climate action plans by 2025.
- The regional forums will be organized by the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Development Programme, the NDC partnership and the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Meetings scheduled for this year will take place in Apia, Samoa; Bogota, Colombia; Istanbul, Turkey; Tunis, Tunisia; Bangkok, Thailand; and Kigali, Rwanda, according to a press release.
Dive Insight:
A recent report by the UNEP surveying emissions gaps found that countries’ current NDCs point to a temperature rise of 2.5-2.9°C, a considerable jump from the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goal. Though emissions are expected to stabilize by 2030, an estimate from the 2023 NDC Synthesis Report found they won’t drop fast enough to meet scientific targets. In order to stay on track for the 1.5°C goal, greenhouse gas emissions need to be slashed by 42% by the end of the decade, according to the report.
“2024 and 2025 represent our best chance as an international community to ensure that the global temperature rise is limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius, staving off the worst effects of climate change,” UNDP’s Administrator Achim Steiner said in the release. “These NDC 3.0 Regional Forums will be vital to take the temperature on where the world stands and pinpoint new opportunities to change climate futures across the globe.”
The UN said its regional forums will draw on insights from COP28 and the Global Stocktake — a global assessment of the progress made toward achieving the Paris Agreement goals — to propose mitigation and adaptation solutions. Last year’s inaugural stocktake concluded 22 gigatons of greenhouse gasses must be removed within the next seven years to keep the Paris Agreement goal within reach.
The UN defined the regional forums as “closed-doors events, targeting government officials responsible for NDCs revisions from all countries in each region.” The meetings aim to engage participants in discussions that survey financing models, develop policy pathways and share implementation strategies on how to best align climate targets with international commitments. The UN said the forums will also provide an opportunity for “peer-learning,” as it will bring together governments from different countries to examine emissions reductions plans.
The announcement comes shortly after COP29 president-designate Mukhtar Babayev unveiled the climate action themes and goals that will be the focus of discussions at November’s summit last week. Among those priorities, Babayev said countries need to implement the outcomes of last year’s Global Stocktake.
