Editor’s choice
The science is as clear as can be: Climate change is already affecting every region of the world in multiple ways, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). However, all national climate pledges and other measures to mitigate emissions combined fail to deliver the cuts needed to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, instead putting the world on a path to “catastrophic changes in the Earth’s climate,” to quote the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). The finance that industrialized nations promised to mobilize to support developing countries choosing low-emissions pathways and adapt to the impacts of climate change also falls short of pledges.
As the COP26 UN climate change conference gets under way in Glasgow, barriers to a successful outcome seem as high as the stakes.
Feature / SEI researchers outline seven ways in which COP26 can - and must - deliver on climate action.
SEI's media contact throughout COP is Annika Flensburg in Stockholm, [email protected]. On-site in Glasgow (3–10 November 2021) is Andrea Lindblom, [email protected]. We'll be tweeting @SEIclimate.
The UK COP26 Presidency has said UN climate talks needed to deliver on “coal, cash, cars and trees.” Putting it differently, COP26 is about taking steps to ensure countries reduce emissions in any number of ways and outlining how developed countries mobilize the climate finance that developing countries need, in particular to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
The world needs to halve annual greenhouse gas emissions in the next eight years, but is nowhere near doing that, the latest UN’s Emissions Gap Report found. Compared to previous plans, countries’ latest national climate plans or NDCs, plus other commitments, only take an additional 7.5% off predicted annual greenhouse gas emissions in 2030, where 55% would be needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C. Country pledges to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 could make a big difference, but many remain vague and delay action until after 2030.
Here are some of our insights on net zero and NDCs.
SEI brief / The heavy-duty vehicle sector has the potential to contribute more to emissions reductions within the European Union (EU) than currently envisioned.
Perspective / The point of companies setting net-zero targets is not for each company to achieve net zero, but to contribute what it can to global net zero.
SEI brief / How can investors in high-emitting sectors help the drive to net zero? This brief presents insights for the agriculture, steel, cement, and oil and gas sectors.
SEI brief / Based on three major new studies on the topic of steel decarbonization, this brief explores how the steel sector could achieve net zero by 2050 through policy.
Perspective / Integrating health in nationally determined contributions (NDCs) can motivate ambitious climate actions.
SEI brief / This assessment looks at the latest round of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and the progress made in raising industry transition ambition levels.
Governments still plan to produce more than double the amount of fossil fuels in 2030 than what would be consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5°C, the Production Gap Report from SEI, UNEP and other partners showed.
Press release / Over the next two decades, governments are collectively projecting an increase in global oil and gas production, and only a modest decrease in coal production.
Developed countries committed to mobilizing $100 billion annually in climate finance by 2020 back at UN climate talks in Copenhagen, in 2009. While the data for 2020 is not yet in, reports from the OECD and the COP26 Presidency are unequivocal that this goal has not been reached. What countries say on climate finance will be key to restoring trust enough to achieve success at COP26.
Perspective / SEI's Zoha Shawoo outlines three key opportunities for climate finance negotiators at COP26 to start grappling with the debt crisis of developing countries.
Heavy storms, extreme droughts and other weather extremes are already a reality. In particular, the most vulnerable countries and communities have not been able to adapt to these extremes that are also occurring more frequently as a result of climate change. The climate talk shorthand for climate impacts that have not been avoided through mitigation or adaptation is “loss and damage”. An SEI report looks at how finance for loss and damage can be taken forward at COP26 and beyond.
SEI brief / Financial support for countries that bear disproportionate effects of climate change has stalled for years. COP26 must spur real progress, researchers argue.
The Paris Agreement has established adaptation as a global goal. Too often, current adaptation plans fail to recognize that we live in a globalized world – a world in which both the impacts of climate change and the responses to them cross borders in the same way people, goods and services do. Our work looks at this “border-crossing” or transboundary nature of climate risk and at how that changes the scope and nature of the adaptation challenge.
Feature / Our stories take a closer look at how transboundary climate risks are triggered, how they spread across borders and what that means for climate adaptation.
Contact details for SEI experts that will be at COP26.
Team Leader: International Climate Risk and Adaptation; Research Fellow
SEI Headquarters
Events
SEI research commissioned by the Swedish ministry of environment looked at how moving (parts of) climate talks under the UNFCCC could increase the effectiveness, inclusiveness and transparency of this process, and address issues of mistrust and power imbalances.
SEI report / This report seeks to address how online meetings could be held to increase the effectiveness, inclusiveness and transparency of the UNFCCC process.
Project / Stockholm Sustainable Finance Centre (SSFC) aimed to have a transformative impact on sustainable finance in Sweden and beyond.
Initiative / The initiative explores implications of transboundary climate risks and strengthens cooperation to meet the global challenge of adaptation to climate change.
Initiative / The Carbon Lock-In Initiative seeks to uncover and address the barriers that uphold the fossil fuel-based economy.
Initiative / This initiative enables integrated national planning for Nationally Determined Contributions and Sustainable Development Goals.
Project / The aim of the project is to provide options for the design of a fund for the Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism under the UNFCCC.
Project / There is a unique opportunity to build climate diplomacy back better in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, our study finds.
Feature / The COP26 outcomes have sunk in and it is time to take stock of what happened on fossil fuels, loss and damage and other questions and look ahead.
Media coverage / As COP26 comes to a close, SEI's Chris Malley speaks to BBC Radio York about his thoughts on the conference.
Press release / The UK Soy Manifesto is a commitment from UK industry to source deforestation and conversion-free soya by 2025 and to support others to do the same.
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