Urban centres hold the majority of the world’s population, yet these man-made environments are often devoid of green spaces. Adequately planned urban greening can not only improve living conditions for city dwellers but also help countries meet their broader climate goals.
Improvements in climate science have a transformational effect on our understanding of environmental criticalities and what it will take to address them. The annual report on new insights in climate science reveals that although climate change indicators are accelerating there is also increasing popular and political momentum for change. 2021 will be a shed water moment if we are to meet the Paris Agreement objectives.
An anthology of essays, poems and illustrations. Against the backdrop of the UN reminding us that women continue to be excluded from participating fully in science, we celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science with “All We Can Save”, a collection of voices of women across generations, races, geography, and backgrounds.
UNDP’s “Peoples’ Climate Vote” asked 1.2 million people in 50 countries, many of them young, whether they think climate change is a global emergency, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and if they support wide-ranging action. Sixty-four per cent of participants agreed and the countries with the highest level of awareness of the climate emergency were Italy and the UK, the hosts of the upcoming UN Climate Conference (COP26).
The largest climate team ever, a flurry of executive orders, an approach that ties together national security and foreign policy, economic growth and employment. Joe Biden’s new strategy is prompt, clear and straightforward: wasting no time in addressing the climate crisis and making the USA an influential actor in global negotiations once again.
The EU is working on integrating sustainability considerations into its financial policy framework in an effort to mobilize finance for sustainable growth. It is bringing forward the European Green Deal whilst facilitating private investment in the transition to a climate-neutral, climate-resilient and just economy.
The International Foundation Big Data and Artificial Intelligence for Human Development (iFAB) in collaboration with CMCC and Leithà, launches the European Extreme Events Climate Index (E3CI), an innovative operational service for weather induced hazard assessment and management. E3CI has the potential to revolutionize the way insurers and financial markets evaluate extreme weather-related risks in Europe. A bold step in ensuring that scientific research has tangible impacts on the real world.
The return of science as a major player in decision making processes, a new US administration that values climate action and a shift in public and private perceptions of climate change. 2021 could be a breakwater moment for planetary wellbeing.
On 11 December, after an overnight session of intense negotiations, EU leaders finally managed to iron out the creases and put together a new and ambitious EU Climate Pact. The EU is now committed to cutting its carbon emissions to 55% of 1990 levels within a decade, paving the way for net-zero emissions by 2050.
Both weigh on the health systems, both aggravate existing inequalities, both have huge economic impacts. COVID-19 and climate change are crisis that need to be tackled together, because “we do not have the luxury of taking one crisis at a time”. The 2020 Lancet Countdown Report on Health and Climate Change told by one of its authors.
In a world where organizers are having to re-think in-person meetings, the UN Climate Dialogues seek to bring Parties and stakeholders together in new and innovative ways so as to build momentum for upcoming climate negotiations. Hidden in this challenge is a new opportunity: “Digitalising climate summits can represent a first step towards a more inclusive and accessible model of cooperation on climate change”, explains CMCC researcher Elisa Calliari.
A low carbon world is being shaped, and the private sector is in the spotlight. While the pandemic is teaching the importance of getting prepared to future risks, the big actors of the financial system are refining the criteria for the allocation of capital to get safe from the coming challenges. For businesses, keeping up with the change is not a matter of reputation anymore. Dealing with climate change is now about financial survival.
