Youth in Ghana prevail on leaders to take Climate Action

Young people in the Ashanti Region of Ghana are engaging political leaders and decision makers to take immediate and sustained action against human-caused climate change.

United in recognizing that the science of climate change is unequivocal, the youth, mobilized by A Rocha Ghana, joined in the global climate strike to draw the attention of leaders and the citizenry on the need for all to respond to the call for climate action.

The youth marched through some principal streets of Kumasi to dram home the reality that climate change threatens the local and national economy, national security, public health and safety.

“Some communities in the Ashanti Region are already experiencing its impacts. Our rural farmers are crying over erratic rainfall patterns, city dwellers are shouting over strong heat waves, and there is always flooding at some major parts of the City when it rains. Children, youth, women, low-income and minority groups are disproportionately affected,” said the concerned youth.

Inspired by their faith, the young activists drew the attention of the Kumasi Mayor to the fact that Climate change is the single biggest challenge to ending poverty and ensuring the safety and security of future generations; and that the impact of climate change is most severe for children, youth, women and the underprivileged living in extreme poverty.

“It is still within our power to avoid the worst impacts of climate change if all our leaders act urgently for the common good of the people,” said the youth in a petition to the Mayor of Kumasi. “At this crucial juncture in human history, the Children, youth, women and the underprivileged look to you and your team to pick up the mantle of leadership: to take steps to strengthen, not weaken, this region’s efforts to tackle this crisis”.

Addressing the recent UN General Assembly, President Akufo-Addo, noted that “nature has been brutal this year in demonstrating to us that, our climate is changing, and we are probably pushing our world to destruction”.

The President further indicated that, scientists have spoken on the realities of climate change; and it is time to direct our energies to what we can and should do to counteract the danger, and stop the unnecessary arguments.

Five Point Petition

With the eyes of children, youth, women, the underprivileged and unborn generations, the concerned youth presented a five-point petition to the Mayor of Kumasi to help address the climate crisis:

1. Bring back the glory of the once touted “Garden City” of Ghana, West Africa and Africa. Ensure that, our green public spaces are protected, re-greened and replanted. All our water ways and lands that are to be protected should not be given to the rich for their huge mansions to the detriment of the poor who suffer during flooding and disease outbreak.

2. Make Ashanti Region a clean energy leader in Ghana and beyond. The vast majority of the people ultimately support renewable energy use and deployment. Embrace the enormous economic opportunities of transitioning to an energy-efficient, low-carbon society. Endeavour to expand democratized clean energy and boost the Garden City’s competitiveness in Ghana and beyond. Remember that the new technologies in energy can offer the youth jobs.

3. Reduce carbon pollution and our dependence on fossil fuels. Ensure that, all sectors work efficiently by integrating climate change actions into their programs. Assure us and ensure that the policies helping to cut greenhouse gas emissions, curb air and water pollution, and accelerate clean energy growth, innovation, and jobs - will stay in place and will be implemented to the latter. Take off polluting and road unworthy cars from our roads. Halt bushfires and illegal logging activities in our moist semi-deciduous ecosystems.

4. Enhance Ashanti region’s climate preparedness and resilience. In the past years alone, floods, droughts, and wildfires have caused the region millions of Ghana Cedis. As climate change continues to increase the frequency and severity of these extreme events, so too grows the burden on all taxpayers to pay for disaster relief and recovery. Help protect and strengthen our communities, economy, and natural resources by investing in modern, climate-resilient energy, transport, building, and water infrastructure.

5. Protect scientific integrity in policymaking. Ensure that there is scientific transparency and accountability without any political bias. Uphold these standards by appointing scientific advisors, agency leaders who respect and rely on science-based decision-making. 

The Mayor of Kumasi, Osei Assibey Antwi, commended the group for their action and reiterated the assembly's commitment to bring back the glory of the once touted Garden City of Ghana.

“You have the support of the majority of companies, religious leaders, scientists, law enforcement agencies, and citizens to respond to the threats posed by climate change by reducing carbon pollution and expanding clean energy,” said the youth.

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

Climate Crisis and SDGs: UN looks to countries and private sector to mobilize resources for progress

Facing the increasing impacts of climate change and a chronic and global underfunding of efforts to scale up action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), world leaders from governments and the private sector are set to announce new plans and financing initiatives at the UN High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development in New York.

The announcements by world leaders, CEOs as well as philanthropy and civil society heads are set to demonstrate increased resolve to mobilize resources, generate action and restore momentum to achieve the globally-agreed goals to eliminate poverty, promote prosperity and well-being while protecting the environment. 

As part of the UN’s week of action for people and the planet, the High-Level Dialogue held under the auspices of the UN General Assembly will review the many financing commitments that were made or are expected to be made at the high-level meetings this week, including at the Climate Action Summit, the SDG Summit and the High-level Midterm Review of the Samoa Pathway.

The Climate Action Summit on Monday saw announcements by countries to increase their contributions to the Green Climate Fund and their assistance for climate financing, as well as announcements by banks and asset management companies to redirect their investments with a focus on sustainability concerns.

At the SDG Summit, governments announced commitments to finance efforts on a range of programmes to achieve various goals.

In his opening remarks, the President of the UN General Assembly, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, said that, “Today’s High-Level Dialogue provides an opportunity to evaluate implementation of this framework. Throughout the SDG Summit, we heard from many Member States that funding remains one of the biggest impediments to realizing the SDGs. We need about $2.5 trillion a year to close the finance gap. This will require our urgent attention and action.”

The High-Level Dialogue will hear from more nearly 20 heads of state and government and as many ministers, joined by philanthropy and business leaders, including Bill Gates, who will sound the alarm about the insufficient pace in closing the gap in investments that are critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

More than 20 initiatives are expected to be announced and reported on. Among them is the 2X Challenge by the Development Finance Institutions of Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, which aims to mobilize $2.5 billion to invest in global women’s economic empowerment.

UN Deputy-Secretary-General Amina Mohammed underlined the vast financing gap. “The bottom line is that we are still not on track. And the urgency of achieving the goals, of which ambitious climate action is a part, demands that we pick up the pace.”

Since the adoption of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda in 2015 — the roadmap for financing the SDGs — there has been slow economic growth, increasing inequalities and growing debt distress in many of the world’s most vulnerable countries. In 2018, net Official Development Assistance totaled $149 billion, down by 2.7 per cent in real terms from 2017.

Rising debt levels can hamper the ability of countries to invest in sustainable development. Climate-related disasters dramatically exacerbate the debt challenges in small island developing states, who struggle to repay their loans as their economies are crippled by ever more intense and frequent disasters. 

However, the path to financing the SDGs is not all bleak.

“Financing is the test of our seriousness,” said UN Secretary‐General António Guterres in his remarks, “Without resources, we will simply not deliver for people or planet.  But with adequate, predictable, sustainable funding, everything is possible.” He also referred to his Strategy for Financing the 2030 Agenda which was announced in 2018 and is being rolled out by the UN this year to support countries and their partners.

Many countries are now incorporating the SDGs into their national budgets. There are opportunities for acceleration, driven by countries’ national sustainable development strategies, innovative partnerships and the potential of data and new technologies. There is also a growing interest in SDGs from the private sector, which increasingly sees the economic case for sustainable development. The financial industry for instance reported on the growing importance of factoring climate-related risks into decision-making as well as opportunities for financial innovation and digital finance to unlock new resources for the SDGs.

Although estimates vary, the cost of achieving the Goals would require annual investments amounting to trillions of dollars, which could be achieved, in large part, through the redirection of major investments to the green economy. Global aggregates also obscure some of the real challenges and opportunities in specific country and regional contexts which has led to a renewed interest in understanding the investment needs at the national level and the need for strengthened domestic resource mobilization to finance national SDG development plans.

A Financing for Development Forum will take place in April 2020 to follow up and review the progress on the Addis Agenda and related financing commitments.

No room for coal in Africa’s renewable future, says Akinwumi Adesina

African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina has unveiled ambitious plans to scrap coal power stations across the continent and switch to renewable energy.

Addressing a gathering of leaders and officials from almost 200 countries at the United Nations climate talks in New York, Adesina outlined efforts to shutter coal-fired power plants and build the "largest solar zone in the world" in the arid Sahel belt.

"Coal is the past, and renewable energy is the future. For us at the African Development Bank, we're getting out of coal," Adesina told delegates to the Climate Action Summit in Manhattan this week.

The Bank's $500 million green baseload scheme will be rolled out in 2020 and is set to yield $5 billion of investment that will help African countries transition from coal and fossil fuel to renewable energy, said Adesina.

He also talked about plans for $20 billion of investments in solar and clean energy that would provide the region's 250 million people with 10,000 MW of electricity.

"There's a reason God gave Africa sunlight," said Adesina.

Presidents, princes and government ministers from around the world attended the UN's climate summit, as they faced mounting pressure to reduce heat-trapping gas emissions and slow the global rise in temperatures.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres also took a swipe at the "dying fossil fuel industry" and said it was still not too late to keep the global rise in temperatures below the benchmark figure of 1.5 degrees Celsius.

"But it will require fundamental transformations in all aspects of society — how we grow food, use land, fuel our transport and power our economies," said Guterres.

"We need to link climate change to a new model of development — fair globalisation — with less suffering, more justice, and harmony between people and the planet."

The UN says mankind must reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming to about 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures to stave off the worst-case predictions of scientists.

The meeting was part of the run-up to the international climate talks in 2020, which is the next deadline for countries to make significant emissions reduction pledges under the 2015 global warming deal.

Climate Action Summit; Issues Arising

Leaders from government, business, and civil society have announced potentially far-reaching steps to confront climate change at the United Nations Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit in New York.

As carbon pollution, temperatures, and climate destruction continue to rise, and public backlash mounts, the Summit has offered a turning point from inertia into momentum, action, and global impact – if everyone gets on board.

The UN estimates that the world would need to increase its efforts between three- and five-fold to contain climate change to the levels dictated by science – a 1.5°Crise at most – and avoid escalating climate damage already taking place around the world.

However, the Paris Agreement provides an open-door framework for countries to continuously ratchet up their positive actions, and today’s Summit demonstrates how governments, businesses, and civilians around the world are rising to the challenge.

“The best science, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, tells us that any temperature rise above 1.5 degrees will lead to major and irreversible damage to the ecosystems that support us,” said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. “Science tells us that on our current path, we face at least 3-degrees Celsius of global heating by the end of the century.”

“The climate emergency is a race we are losing, but it is a race we can win.”

“This is not a climate talk summit. We have had enough talk,” he added. “This is not a climate negotiation summit. You don’t negotiate with nature. This is a climate action summit.”

The African Interest

The African Group of Negotiators (AGN) appreciated the initiatives of the United Nations Secretary-General on climate change and the convening of the 2019 Climate Action Summit for enhancing ambition and accelerating action.

The group reiterated that the African continent is under extreme pressure more than ever due to the extreme events of climate change, including flash floods, heavy rainfall displacing thousands of people and causing deaths in North Africa, extreme drought, affecting livestock, water, crops, wildlife, and energy sector in East Africa, extreme event in the Western Africa region causing flash floods, resulting in loss of lives, displacing thousands and destroying infrastructure, and cyclones causing the deaths of thousands and destroying homes and properties in Southern Africa.

African countries affected by these extreme events are countries with less capacity and existing development challenges.

The AGN urged the need for further elaboration of adaptation planning and implementation as well as strength resilience under the Paris Agreement to address extreme meteorological events.

It expects that the replenishment process would reflect the level of ambition envisaged by the

Paris Agreement for this Africa expects that the replenishment process would conclude with a doubling of the pledges to reach at least 20 billion USD in line with the Paris Agreement vision of enhancing ambition.

Make Africa's Great Green Wall a Reality

On the eve of the UN Climate Action Summit, global leaders from government, business and civil society issued an urgent call to action to grow an 8000km natural wonder of the world across the entire width of the African continent.

The Great Green Wall, an African-led movement, aims to, at once, drive forward climate-smart solutions and bring back life to degraded landscapes in order to provide food security, jobs and thriving new economies for the communities living in Africa’s Sahel region. An estimated 15% of the Wall is already underway.

Influential leaders from business, politics, media, the film and music industries gathered at Goals House in New York to spotlight the Great Green Wall as a practical, low-cost nature-based solution responding to the global climate emergency.

Participants called on governments, civil society and business to join a growing global movement to make the Great Green Wall a reality by 2030.

The Sahel – where the Great Green Wall is taking root – is a political hotspot. Nearly 80% of the land in this region is degraded, 33 million people are currently food insecure and temperatures are expected by rise by as much as 3-5 degrees by 2050. The most pressing challenges that humanity will face this century are already evident here, from food and water shortages, to climate change, drought, migration, and international terrorism.

The Great Green Wall is often cast as a green belt stretching across the entire width of Africa from Dakar to Djibouti. But it is much, much more. It is a people-centered movement to restore the health of the Sahel’s eco-system and natural resources in order to build the resilience to drought of the communities living here, enhance their food security and empower them to generate new and sustainable income streams.

Major Step Up in National Ambition and Private Sector Action

Major announcements by government and private sector leaders at the United Nations Climate Action Summit boosted climate action momentum, and demonstrated growing recognition that the pace of climate action must be rapidly accelerated.

77 countries committed to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, while 70 countries announced they will either boost their national action plans by 2020 or have started the process of doing so.

Over 100 business leaders delivered concrete actions to align with the Paris Agreement targets, and speed up the transition from the grey to green economy, including asset-owners holding over $2 trillion in assets and leading companies with combined value also over $2 trillion.

Many countries and over 100 cities – including many of the world’s largest – announced significant and concrete new steps to combat the climate crisis.

Many smaller countries, including Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries, were among those who made the biggest pledges, despite the fact the they have contributed the least to the problem.

Speaking at the closing segment, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said “You have delivered a boost in momentum, cooperation and ambition. But we have a long way to go.”

“We need more concrete plans, more ambition from more countries and more businesses. We need all financial institutions, public and private, to choose, once and for all, the green economy.”

Youth leaders including Greta Thunberg drove home the urgency of greater action by leaders, and their determination to hold leaders to account.

During the Global Climate Strike, Mithika Mwenda, Executive Director of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), made a passionate call to world leaders.

“Our children are looking for more efficient action on climate change. It must not be business as usual. And we all know this. The transition to low-carbon, climate-resilient, ecologically just and people-centred development trajectory is unstoppable. Those who stand on the way will be swept into deep seas,” he said.

“The painful bit about the climate crisis is that many nations are stuck in old bad habits. Many opinion leaders and policy influencers have refused to read the signs, understand and accept the realities of the day. And let’s not sugar-coat things, because only the truth shall set us free: The US President Donald Trump, knowing his word is policy for many, must stop making the climate crisis a mockery. China must stop finding places to sell its coal by funding coal-fueled projects in poor nations! Just like the Chinese, we all want clean and renewable energy”.

Least Developed Countries launch vision for a climate resilient future

More than two thirds (69%) of people killed in climate-related disasters in the past 50 years were living in 47 of the world's poorest nations, according to findings released by the group of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) ahead of the UN Climate Action Summit.

The LDCs – which make up 13% of the global population – revealed the toll of extreme weather events like droughts, wildfires, floods and landslides between 1970 and 2019 as they launched 2050 Vision, their blueprint for a climate resilient future.

"Over one billion people in our countries live on the frontline of climate change despite doing the least to cause it," says Sonam P Wangdi, Chair of the Least Developed Countries Group. "The current system is failing. The global response to climate change must rapidly transform to move the world onto a 1.5°C compatible pathway."

The LDCs will take centre stage at the Climate Action Summit. Together with other LDC leaders, Dr. Lotay Tshering, Prime Minister, Royal Government of Bhutan, will launch the 2050 Vision, which calls for every country to produce a national strategy to prevent global warming beyond 1.5°C.

It also outlines measures the LDCs will take to push for climate resilience and net zero emissions by 2050. This involves channelling 70% of climate funding to drive local level action, holistic climate change planning from the local to the national level, and ensuring climate solutions are centred on gender and social justice.

"Our goal is a more effective, more ambitious and more equitable global response to climate change, with no one left behind," says Mr Wangdi.

The LDCs are asking for an initial US$450m of investment over 10 years in the LDC Initiative for Effective Adaptation and Resilience (LIFE-AR), to help them deliver the adaptation and resilience work outlined in their Vision. This money will support the countries who are the first to join the drive - Bhutan, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda.

The LDCs are also championing two other long-term initiatives that will work to support the Vision: the LDC Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Initiative for Sustainable Development (LDC REEEI) and the LDC Universities Consortium on Climate Change (LUCCC). 

As more than half of the people living in the LDCs currently do not have access to electricity, LDC REEEI will focus on getting 100 percent sufficient and affordable renewable energy to all LDC citizens by 2030 and 100 percent electricity from renewable sources by 2050.

Through LUCCC, 10 founding Universities will strengthen the understanding of climate change across the group, design LDC-owned solutions and train the next generation of leaders.

"The least developed countries are being bold and ambitious," says Mr Wangdi. "We have committed to doing more than our fair share in the global effort to halt the climate crisis and address its impacts. But we cannot do it alone. We are asking the international community to commit to supporting our priorities, our initiatives and our Vision."

In 2020, LDCs will come forward with enhanced nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to the Paris Agreement, long term plans to reach net zero emissions and climate resilience by 2050, and national adaptation plans. These ambitious strategies and plans will also need support from the international community

Ghana can secure economic prosperity and high living standards by prioritising Zero-Carbon Cities

A new report from the Coalition for Urban Transitions, supported by 50 leading institutions, shows that national governments that invest in low-carbon cities can enhance economic prosperity, make cities better places to live and rapidly reduce carbon emissions. 
 

The report finds that implementing low-carbon measures in cities could reduce emissions from cities by 90% and would be worth almost US$24 trillion by 2050.  

Climate Emergency, Urban Opportunity is the most comprehensive report to date to examine how national governments can achieve equitable and sustainable economic development in cities, which are home to over half the world’s population and which produce 80% of gross domestic product and three-quarters of energy-related carbon emissions.

Today, over 55% of Ghana’s population lives in urban areas, and the share is expected to exceed 70% by 2050. Trillions of dollars will be invested in urban infrastructure to meet the needs of these new urban residents. The coming decades are therefore crucial to shape Ghana’s cities into sustainable, equitable and resilient places where residents enjoy a high quality of life and access to opportunities.

“City action is essential in tackling the climate crisis, but cities can’t do it alone.” said Mohammed Adjei Sowah, Mayor of Accra, and C40 vice chair and Global Covenant of Mayors Board Member. “We need the support of national governments in Ghana and across Africa to create the urban systemic change needed. This report outlines the steps to be taken in order to work together to secure economic prosperity whilst tackling the climate crisis.”

Science tells us that we need to reach net-zero emissions by mid-century to avoid dangerous climate change.

The Urban Opportunity report shows that it is possible to cut 90% of emissions from cities using currently available technologies and practices in buildings, transport, materials efficiency and waste.

Low-carbon measures in cities like Accra, Kumasi, and Sekondi-Takoradi could collectively deliver over half of the emission reductions needed to keep global temperature rise below two degrees Celsius. 

These low-carbon measures would also deliver a significant economic return. They would require an investment of US $1.8 trillion (approximately 2% of global GDP) per year, which would generate annual returns worth US $2.8 trillion in 2030, and $7.0 trillion in 2050 based on cost savings alone. Many of these low-carbon measures would pay for themselves in less than five years, including more efficient lighting, electric vehicles, improved freight logistics and improved solid waste management. 

“Cities are engines of growth, innovation and prosperity,” said António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations. “This report shows how the right investments can build sustainable and liveable cities and communities that will help us achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the objectives of the Paris Agreement. It is possible and realistic to realize net-zero urban emissions by 2050. But to get there, we will need the full engagement of city governments combined with national action and support.”

The Urban Opportunity report demonstrates that compact, connected and clean cities would also provide a higher standard of living and greater opportunity for all. Investments in low-carbon measures in cities could support 87 million jobs annually by 2030. These measures will also reduce choking air pollution, cut chronic traffic congestion, and improve worker productivity. 

Promoting more compact urban development could also enhance food security and reduce the cost of services (since less land, materials and energy required when people live closer together). Urban expansion is a major issue in Ghana, where many people still depend on natural resources and agriculture for their livelihoods. In the period 2000-2014, nearly half of the urban expansion in Ghana encroached into forests, and nearly 10% of the expansion took place into cultivated lands around cities, which are often irrigated lands producing high-value crops.

Decisions made about cities in the next decade will put countries like Ghana on a path to prosperity and resilience - or decline and vulnerability. National governments must seize this brief window of opportunity, as the costs of inaction could be devastating.

Over ten percent of the world’s population – 820 million people – live in coastal zones less than 10m above sea level, and 86 percent of them live in urban or quasi-urban areas. In Ghana, over a million people live in coastal urban and quasi-urban areas less than 10 metres above sea level. These people are especially vulnerable to storm surges, sea-level rise and other climate hazards.

Many city governments are already playing an active role in tackling the climate crisis: nearly 10,000 cities and local governments have committed to set emissions reduction targets. However, even the largest and most powerful city governments can only deliver a fraction of their mitigation potential on their own: the Urban Opportunity report shows that, excluding decarbonisation of electricity, local governments have direct power over less than 1/3 of the emissions reduction potential in their cities. National and state governments have power over a further 1/3. More than a 1/3 depends on different levels of government working together to cut emissions, making the future of cities a vital collaborative effort.

Launched just ahead of the U.N Climate Action Summit, the Urban Opportunity report provides the evidence and confidence that governments need to submit more ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions in 2020, and to propel inclusive, zero-carbon cities to the heart of their national development strategies. Worldwide, fewer than two in five countries have an explicit national strategy for cities, and only seven countries currently have both a National Urban Policy and a Nationally Determined Contribution that specifically address climate mitigation in cities. 

This report offers case studies from around the world where national and local governments have worked together to rapidly and profoundly transform their cities for the better within two or three decades, including: Chile, China, Colombia, Denmark, Germany, India, Indonesia, Namibia, Rwanda and South Korea.

This report also presents six key priorities for actions that national governments can take to seize this opportunity: 

1. Develop an overarching strategy to deliver shared prosperity while reaching net-zero emissions – and place cities at its heart, which can guide all line ministries to incorporate urban development into their approach, de-risk low-carbon investment by providing clear signals to private actors, and empower local governments to go farther and faster. 

2. Align national policies behind compact, connected, clean cities. Examples include removing land use and building regulations that limit higher, liveable density; banning the sale of fossil fuel-powered vehicles; and adopting green alternatives to steel and cement. 

3. Fund and finance sustainable urban infrastructure. Examples include eliminating subsidies for fossil fuels and establishing a carbon price of US$50–100 per tonne to sharpen investment incentives; reforming land and property taxes; and shifting national transport budgets from road-building to public and active transport. 

4. Coordinate and support local climate action in cities. Examples include authorising local governments to introduce climate policies and plans that are more ambitious than national policies; and allocating at least one third of national R&D budgets to support cities’ climate priorities. 

5. Build a multilateral system that fosters inclusive, zero-carbon cities. Examples include placing cities at the heart of enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions in 2020 and 2025 and ensuring that all international development assistance is aligned with national urban strategies compatible with the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

6. Proactively plan for a just urban transition. Examples include using revenues from carbon taxes or fossil fuel subsidy reform to compensate those who bear the costs of climate action; supporting community-led upgrading of informal settlements to reduce poverty and enhance climate resilience; and anticipating, protecting and supporting the workforce of the future, including by developing transition plans for fossil fuel-based workers and industries. 

“In signing the Paris Agreement, national governments committed to tackling climate change,” said Christiana Figueres, Vice-Chair, Global Covenant of Mayors and Former Executive Secretary, UNFCCC. “As public demand for climate action grows, countries can harness the dynamism and creativity of cities to increase the ambition of their Nationally Determined Contributions ahead of COP26 next year.”

Roadmap provides 36 solutions to cut greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2030 worldwide

In advance of the 2019 United Nations Climate Summit in New York City, an international group of experts have published the Exponential Roadmap: the 36 most viable solutions to halve greenhouse gas emissions globally by 2030.

The solutions – ranging from solar and wind to electric bikes, commercial shipping and reduced red meat consumption – have the potential to scale rapidly.

Stabilizing Earth’s temperature to significantly reduce risks to societies now requires greenhouse gas emissions to reach net zero by 2050. This translates to cutting greenhouse gases by about 50% by 2030 alongside significant removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

“While this scale of transformation is unprecedented, the speed is not,” says report author Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany and co-chair of Future Earth, an international research programme.

“This is now a race against time, but businesses and even entire industries have made many significant transitions in less than 10 years,” he adds.

Christiana Figueres, former head of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and Convenor of Mission 2020, a partner organisation in the roadmap, says, “I see all evidence that social and economic tipping points are aligning. We can now say the next decade has the potential to see the fastest economic transition in history. The 2019 Exponential Roadmap is an excellent guide for the necessary journey to net-zero emissions.”

Manuel Pugal-Vidal, leader of the climate and energy practice at WWF, a partner of the report said, “Governments must introduce national targets to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 with targets to cut emissions 50% by 2030. Immediate removal of fossil-fuel subsidies is a priority. Yet policies must be equitable and fair or risk failure.”

“Developed nations with significant historic emissions also have a responsibility to reduce emissions faster. Cities and states – not only countries – will also be important change makers,” he adds.

The report highlights four approaching tipping points that combined will accelerate the transformation: 

• Growing social movements (for example, Fridays for Future) changing the public conversation in parallel with companies and cities stepping up climate action.
• Emerging political support for more ambitious targets, for example countries such as the UK, France, Norway and Sweden adopting laws to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 or earlier.
• Solar and wind energy have reached a tipping point and are now cheaper than fossil fuels in many places. Tumbling costs and rapid innovation of low-emissions technology including battery storage and electric vehicles makes a very rapid transformation almost inevitable. 
• Digitalisation and global communications allow more rapid scaling than previous transformations.  

“This roadmap uniquely focuses on three things. The immediate priorities – reaching peak emissions in 2020 and racing to cut emissions in half by 2030. How we scale the new solutions exponentially. And how we need to think in terms of systems transformation of the whole economy,” says Johan Falk, an expert in exponential strategies, co-lead author and a fellow at Stockholm Resilience Centre and Future Earth, Sweden.

The authors see the circular economy as one of the most significant ways for industries to reduce emissions. “An immediate priority is to build the policy environment for a circular economy. This could provide half of the emissions reductions we need by 2030 from key industry,” says Falk.

The report is a collaboration between academia, business, and civil society groups solutions in six sectors: energy, industry, transport, buildings, food consumption, and nature-based solutions. In the energy sector, the authors conclude the world has reached a tipping point.

”Low cost solar, wind and battery technologies are on profitable, exponential trajectories that will be enough to halve emissions from electricity generation by 2030,” says Tomas Kåberger, lead author of the energy chapter from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. “In some less developed markets, however, support is still needed to ensure these scale,” he adds. However, the report also warns fossil-fuel subsidies remain barriers to exponential growth of renewables and continued investment in fossil-fuel infrastructure is not compatible with the 1.5°C climate target.

In transport, electric vehicles have the potential to reach a 90% market share by 2030, but only if strong policies support this direction. Even shipping is able to reduce emissions 50% with modifications to routes, speed, and fuel types. The world’s largest container shipping company, Maersk, for example, has now committed to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

The new roadmap includes findings from several major academic assessments on food system transformation that have been published in the past year, including the EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems and the IPCC climate change and land report.

“Food and agriculture is the dark horse in the fight against climate change. It may be the hardest sector to rapidly halve emissions,” says Brent Loken from the EAT Foundation and lead author of the chapters on food consumption and nature-based solutions.

It will require a dietary transition from high consumption of red meat and ultra-processed foods to a more healthy diet with plenty of fruit, legumes and vegetables. In addition, the roll out globally of more sustainable farming practices. Barriers include poor land-use planning, contradictory subsidies, focus on quick profits, regulatory barriers, insufficient funding, lack of knowledge, and vested interests could slow progress.

But avoiding deforestation, in addition to reforestation and improved land management is a significant opportunity to reduce and sequester greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The authors estimate nature-based solutions could be used to sequester around 9 billion tonnes of CO2 annually by 2030.

The building sector also requires profound changes. Reducing greenhouse gases 50% can be delivered through greater efficiencies in use of building space alongside energy efficient refurbishment and net zero-emission construction.

The second in its series, the 2019 Exponential Roadmap is complemented with a high-ambition narrative, Meeting the 1.5°C Ambition, that presents why the world must aim to hold global average temperature increase to just 1.5°C. Each new roadmap updates solutions that have proven potential to scale and charts progress towards exponential scaling, using exponential strategies needed to cut emissions 50 percent by 2030 or earlier, then doing it again by 2040 and again by 2050. The first was published in 2018 at the Global Climate Action Summit.

Since the first roadmap, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. The report concluded that the economic and humanitarian risks of a 2°C world are significantly higher than one at 1.5°C. Yet if emissions continue at current rates, within ten to fifteen years we will lose the chance to remain in a world at only 1.5°C.