New Initiatives in Energy, Water, Agric Sectors Announced at UN Climate Conference in Bonn
As local, regional leaders sign commitment for faster climate action
New commitments and initiatives in energy, water and agriculture sectors have been announced at the United Nations Climate Conference (COP23) in Bonn, Germany, under the auspices of the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action to help implement the Paris Agreement. The Marrakech Partnership aims at catalysing greater climate action by public and private stakeholders as the Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015, calls on countries to combat climate change by limiting the rise of global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius and strive not to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius.
In Bonn, new initiatives were announced to push forward the transition to renewable energy and to show that more ambitious clean energy development can quickly become a bigger part of national climate plans submitted under the Paris Agreement, according to a UN release.
“With the price of renewable and storage technologies tumbling, and greater understanding on how to set the policy table for a cleaner energy mix and more integrated energy planning, the question before decision makers is, why wait?” said Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and CEO, Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All), Rachel Kyte.
Among key announcements, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) released a new report, Untapped Potential for Climate Action: Renewable Energy in Nationally Determined Contributions, which suggests there is substantial scope for countries to cost-effectively increase renewable energy.
The Climate Group also announced new members to its recently launched EV100 campaign, a major new global electric transport initiative designed to make electric vehicles “the new normal.” And 13 countries with the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced recently the launch of a new multi-year, Euros 30 million plan to support clean energy transitions around the world.
Regarding agriculture, leaders and experts said investing faster and further in agricultural climate action and to support the sustainable livelihoods of small-scale farmers will unlock much greater potential to curb emissions and protect people against climate change.
“Countries now have the opportunity to transform their agricultural sectors to achieve food security for all through sustainable agriculture and strategies that boost resource-use efficiency, conserve and restore biodiversity and natural resources, and combat the impacts of climate change,” said the Assistant-Director General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), René Castro.
In the livestock sector, for example, FAO estimates that emissions could be readily reduced by about 30 per cent with the adoption of best practices.
FAO released a new Sourcebook on Climate-Smart Agriculture. It recommends scaling up public and private climate finance flows to agriculture; spurring public-private partnerships; strengthening a multi-sector and multistakeholder dialogue; investing in knowledge and information; and building capacity to address barriers to implement climate action.
In the water sector, the majority of national climate plans with an adaptation component prioritise action on water, yet financing would need to triple to $295 billion per year to meet such targets, said experts last week.