CONCLUSION
Africa Climate Week
September
UNEP and partners organized Africa Climate Week alongside the first Africa Climate Summit, which brought more than 10,000 people, including 20 heads of state, to Nairobi, Kenya. The gathering, which took place against the backdrop of some of the worst droughts and floods ever to hit the continent, emphasized that Africa can drive solutions to the climate crisis. It was also a chance for leaders to form a consensus around key issues ahead of COP28. “We aim to weave a single, resounding African voice that will carry the outcomes … to COP28 and beyond,” said Kenyan President William Ruto.
Mercury pollution
October
October marked the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Minamata Convention, a deal that has been hailed as a triumph of international diplomacy. Some 147 parties have ratified the agreement, which calls for countries to phase out mercury use in products, ban the opening of new mercury mines and limit the emission of mercury into the environment.
Every year, as much as 9,000 tons of mercury–a toxic substance often used in small-scale gold mining–are released into the atmosphere, in water and on land. As the Minamata Convention enters its second decade, experts are buoyed by the progress of recent years. The trade in mercury has slowed, manufacturers have begun finding alternatives to mercury in a range of products and public awareness about the dangers of mercury has grown.
Environmental award
October
UNEP announced the five winners of the 2023 Champions of the Earth award, the UN’s highest environmental honor.
This year’s awards honored innovators and initiatives for their cutting-edge work in tackling plastic pollution. This followed the 2022 historic resolution at the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5) in Nairobi to End Plastic Pollution and forge an international legally binding agreement by 2024.
The Champions of the Earth award recognizes outstanding leaders from government, civil society and the private sector for their transformative impact on the environment in four categories: Policy Leadership, Inspiration and Action, Entrepreneurial Vision and Science and Innovation.
Depths of climate crisis
November
A trio of UNEP-supported reports brought into sharp focus the scale of the climate crisis and offered policymakers a suite of potential solutions.
UNEP’s Adaptation Gap Report found developing countries alone need to devote $215 billion to $387 billion a year to contend with extreme weather, rising seas and other climatic upheaval. Spending now is just a fraction of that.
Meanwhile, UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report revealed that based on current climate-related pledges by governments, the Earth is on pace to warm by between 2.5°C and 2.9°C this century, well above the goals of the Paris Agreement. To keep warming below 1.5°C, a key Paris target, the world will need to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by 42 per cent by 2030.
As well, the Production Gap Report, produced by UNEP and partners, found states were planning to produce more than twice as much fossil fuel as would be consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C.
Biodiversity Framework
December
It has been a year since the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) was successfully adopted in Montreal, Canada in December 2022.
The framework included concrete actions to halt and reverse the loss of nature, including protecting 30 percent of the planet and restoring 30 per cent of degraded ecosystems.
To improve governance and accountability for nature, UNEP and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) supported 138 countries to align their national biodiversity policies, targets and monitoring frameworks with the GBF. This is a critical step to the agreement’s success.
In September, UNEP and partners launched the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans Accelerator Partnership, which provides technical support to accelerate implementation of the framework. UNEP also trained officials from 50 countries to use a data reporting tool, which helps streamline reporting to biodiversity-related conventions.
End of the fossil fuel era
December
On December 12, the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) came to a close with a historic declaration as negotiators from nearly 200 Parties came together with a decision to ratchet up climate action before the end of the decade with the overarching aim to keep the global temperature limit of 1.5°C within reach while rapidly ramping up production of renewable energy. UNEP News
