UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for the COP28 Presidency, Razan Al Mubarak, has underlined the significant work non-party stakeholders are doing to accelerate progress towards a net zero and resilient world by 2050.
Speaking during her opening address to government Ministers and representatives at the 14th Petersberg Climate Dialogue held in Berlin, Ms. Al Mubarak outlined the ambitious vision shared by Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, fellow High-Level Champion for COP27 for non-party stakeholder action and engagement ahead of COP28.
According to her, “To really mobilise change this year, three of the most powerful things we can do is to embrace nature positive action, mobilise finance at scale, and be truly inclusive – ensuring that women, youth and Indigenous peoples are leading our discussions.
“This decade, we must reverse biodiversity loss, halve emissions, enhance adaptation, and advance equity simultaneously. There is no Paris Agreement without protecting nature.”
With six months until the Conference of the Parties (COP 28) climate summit in Dubai, Ms. Al Mubarak underlined how leadership and solutions from non-party stakeholders are already driving significant climate action in all sectors, and amongst all groups of actors, and delivering tangible and measurable progress on decarbonization as well as adaptation and financial flows.
For example, the approximately 11,000 members of Race to Zero are committed to collectively halving emissions by 2030. Likewise, commitments to date made through the Race to Resilience aim to make 3 billion people more resilient by the end of the decade.
Similarly, the 2030 Breakthroughs, the Breakthrough Agenda, and the Sharm El Sheikh Adaptation Agenda – all welcomed by parties in the COP27 Decision – together with the Marrakesh Partnership Climate Action Pathways – provide a roadmap of milestones and actions needed this decade to get on track to deliver our goals.
The Sharm El Sheikh Adaptation Agenda seeks to accelerate adaptation action across five systems: food and agriculture, water, oceans, human settlements, and infrastructure. It also aims to bring forward many proven solutions, for example, mangrove restoration, urban greening, resilient agriculture, and early warning systems.
The Global Stocktake was a key political theme of the Dialogue which Ms. Al Mubarak underlined as a chance for everyone to maximize ambition.
The Petersberg Climate Dialogue is convened by the German government to lay the groundwork ahead of the UN’s Climate Change Conference.
This year COP28 President-designate, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, and the Youth Climate Champion, Ms. Shamma Al Mazrui, also launched their vision for the upcoming conference in December.
By Dare Akogun
