As leaders gather in California this week for the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS2018), UN Climate Change is presenting a revamped version of its Climate Action Portal, featuring the accelerated action underway by cities, regions, companies and investors to achieve the collective goals of the Paris Agreement.
The preview coincides with what has been dubbed “the biggest moment for climate action since the Paris Agreement”, to highlight progress being made around the five”: Healthy Energy Systems, Inclusive Economic Growth, Land and Ocean Stewardship, Sustainable Communities and Transformative Investments.
Key commitments in these five areas were presented at the end of the Global Climate Action Summit on Friday, September 14, 2018, and by the New York Climate Week in a fortnight, UN Climate Change will have uploaded all the actions under each of these five areas to the area, effectively serving as the legacy tool for the Summit.
The energy and momentum emerging from GCAS2018 can help set the stage for the next steps in the international climate change process, starting with the UN Climate Change Conference in Katowice this December (COP24).
Originally called the “NAZCA Portal” – named after the ancient lines in Peru and launched by the Peruvian Government back in 2014 – the Climate Action portal was subsequently enshrined in the text of the Paris Agreement as the official portal to showcase the contributions of the so-called “non-Party stakeholders”.
The new design and improved usability of the website – centred around an interactive map – offers an improved visualisation of the overall data and enhanced aggregation of climate action based on constituencies and sectors.
The update also represents a unique collaboration between UN Climate Change and its core data partners who have been working tirelessly to harvest and consolidate the climate commitments and actions of non-Party stakeholders (cities, regions, businesses and investors): CDP, Carbon Climate Registry, Climate Initiative Bonds, Cooperative Initiative Platform, Global Covenant of Mayors, Investors on Climate Change, The Climate Group, and UN Global Compact.
Recent studies have underscored the vital role that these actors are playing to reduce global emissions and, in doing so, to create persistent momentum towards the Secretary-General’s 2019 Climate Summit. Specifically, some studies suggest that, by 2030, global greenhouse gas emissions could be lowered by as much as 1.5 to 2.2 gigatons (CO2e) every year if the commitments from nearly 6,000 cities, states, regions and over 2,000 companies are fully implemented.
The portal will therefore serve a critical function by capturing the breadth and depth of this action from the “real world” economy, gradually incorporating new data over the coming months from more than 12,000 stakeholders, and capturing many more commitments going forward.
This can encourage governments to raise ambition as they prepare for COP24 in Poland in December of this year and for the next round of climate action plans under the Paris Agreement in 2020.
View the UN Climate Change’s Global Climate Action portal at: http://climateaction.unfccc.int/
NAZCA was launched by the Peruvian Presidency of the UN Climate Change Conference COP20, alongside the Lima Paris Action Agenda (LPAA) in 2014. It was a central tool for the LPAA and the French Presidency to build momentum and support the adoption of the universal climate agreement at COP21 in 2015.
This culminated with its inclusion in the Paris Agreement outcome where countries welcomed the efforts of these actors to scale up their climate actions and encouraged the registration of these actions on NAZCA, which UN Climate Change says will continue to play a key role in providing visibility and tracking the diversity of climate action and mobilising broader engagement to help countries achieve and exceed their national commitments.
